The Revenant
by Greed720
Summary: This isn't how he thought it would go, then again his life had been falling apart for sometime now, so maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised that one minute he'd been in Tokyo, and the next he was in a whole other world. In a place without Ghouls, and where no one knew who he was, or what he is.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So I am sure some people will recognise bits of this stories, and there is a reason for that. This story has been ADOPTED! With PERMISSION! From the author Alarose, and used to be called 'When The Beyonder Interferes'.**

 **Now I actually spoke with Alarose months ago with the intention of adopting his story and rewriting it in my own words and then continuing. However I was somewhat stalled in publishing it as, well as I am sure some of you may have noticed, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now huge, spanning twenty two films, and multiple television series. Truly it is a beast now, with dozens of intersecting story lines, heroes and plot points. All of which I had to go through when writing out a full plot for my story, and trust me keeping track of it all wasn't easy, nor was ironing out the bits and pieces I would be covering and the changes I would be making and the knock on effects from said changes.**

 **Suffice to say it gave me a headache, after all, all my other stories have rather simplistic source material by comparison. Still I forged ahead because I loved Alarose's story and wanted to see it continued. As well as that I always liked the character Kaneki, and had many ideas about how I could develop his character, abilities and relationships.**

 **Of course me being an idiot sometimes, I probably bit off a bit more than I could chew when I decided to mash the X-men into the MCU. Still I preserved and am content enough with my current plot and the character bios that I have written, confident enough to start writing the story.**

 **Even if I do have a couple of other ongoing stories, but hey what can I say this is something completely different to what I have written before, and how many times do you get to write a supernatural/ superpowered, cannibalistic antihero, with severe psychological issues?**

 **Warnings there will be violence, cannibalism, gore, swearing and potentially scenes of a sexual nature.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul, Marvel and have adopted this story from Alarose.**

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 1**

 **( - )**

 **(In Tokyo, Japan)**

It was silent in the cavernous warehouse, save except for the soft sound of dripping, as crimson red, droplets of blood fell from a mangled body in the centre of the room, the blood pooling on the cracked tiles and concrete around the body, slowly spreading out in every direction.

Elsewhere around the room two other broken corpses could be seen, one of them was a young girl in her later teens, her neck bruised and broken, with the jagged remnants of her spine protruding from it. The other was a boy around the same age who was slumped over dead in a pool of his own blood, his glazed eyes looking on accusingly at his killer, and his killer's killer.

A soft sigh left Ken Kaneki's lips as he looked around the room takin gall of this in, his breath misting front of him in the cold air as he looked from the two dead teens and instead down at the mangled body in front of him, his grey eyes apathetic as he gazed at the still whimpering slab of meat.

The person before him had once been a giant, muscled beast of a man, one who had once been clad in what once might have been a smart, white suit, but which was now dyed dark red with his own blood, and who had terrorised humans and his own kind alike with his savagery.

Jason that was the name that the man was referred to as by the authorities and many of his fellow, and he had been a sadistic, cruel, callous murderer and torturer. On top of that he had also been a Ghoul, a humanoid species of creature, with incredible supernatural abilities, and an inherent need to feed on humans to survive. A trait for which this species had gotten its name, after all for as much as they looked human, and could pass for human, they were not. Instead they were something else completely. They were Ghouls.

Kaneki let out another breath at that though, as his eyes roamed hungrily over the whimpering man in front of him, the other Ghoul's blood bathing the floor around him crimson, the pool around Jason's twisted body spreading outward, soaking Kaneki's bare feet crimson.

The man was broken and beaten, a slab of barely alive meat, but that wasn't enough, not for Kaneki, not after what the man had done. The man's current suffering wasn't enough to satisfy him, no, he wanted the monster who had been torturing him for so long to be beg for death by the end, he wanted him to plead with Kaneki for an end to his suffering, only for him to then be denied as Kaneki prolonged his torment until he shattered Jason's mind.

With that in mind Kaneki placed his bloodstained foot on the older man's broad back, noting absently as he did so, that at some point during his days of torture his toenails had changed colour, each of them now a deadened black colour.

Tilting his head sideways at that, Kaneki's apathetic expression didn't change for a second, as moments later he dug his foot into Jason's back and then twisted it, cracking several ribs as he did so, and forcing a scream of agony out of the beaten, bloodied man.

"What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki asked quietly, ignoring Jason's cry of pain as he pressed down with his foot, still grinding his heel into the man's back.

Following on from that, with barely a thought, his kagune exploded out of the small of Kaneki's back, four glowing red tendrils forming up before they then shot down into Jason, each one of the tendrils spearing one of the larger man's limbs into the ground, piercing through flesh, bone and the concrete beneath as they pinned him in place.

In response to this Jason let out a bellow of pain, his voice pitching slightly as he did so before the pain then seemed to focus him, as afterwards he turned his and glared up at Kaneki with hate filled eyes.

Kaneki tilted his head again as he saw this, his lips twitching as a ghost of a smile tried to break through the placid, dispassionate expression on his face. This wouldn't do.

With that in mind he twisted his foot again and pressed down, even as his kagune drilled deeper into the man's limbs, cracking and splintering the already broken concrete below, before with a twitch of one of his tendrils he tore one of Jason' legs completely off, causing a spray of crimson blood to spray across the floor, and a scream to tear itself loose from the larger man's lips.

"What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki asked again, his tone of voice dispassionate as he looked down at Jason's shaking form, the previously kind and gentle person that he was, now completely gone, consumed by the darkness of the world and spat out as something new, something darker, something more capable of surviving.

Following on from this Kaneki cracked one of his fingers with his thumb, the sound almost deafening in the cavernous, but all but empty room.

A small voice whimpered below him, responding to his previous question.

"Louder. What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki continued, his tone holding no irritation or anger, as he instead calmly demanded a proper answer from Jason, his tone tranquil, but unrelenting.

"Nine hundred and ninety three! Nine hundred and eight six... nine hundred and seventy nine," Jason screamed in response, beginning to count down from seven as Kaneki commanded, his voice choking on blood as he did so. With him knowing as he did that this is what he had forced hundreds of others to do when they were under his tender mercy.

Still despite inflicting upon Jason, what he had done to him, Kaneki found that he did not get enough pleasure or satisfaction from his revenge. No, instead he just continued to feel cold and empty. He still felt unsatisfied.

Perhaps... yes, that could work, Kaneki thought to himself, even as he brought his pale hand to his head, noticing as he did that his fingernails had turned black too, before then grabbed one side of his head.

Following on from this, with a groan and a bit of pain, mild in comparison to the torture he had undergone recently, he forced his fingers into his ear, breaking the side of his skull a little bit as he did so, in order for him to be able to reach the red headed centipede buried in his inner ear, a gift from Jason, during the near ten days the larger man had tortured him.

Grabbing the centipede Kaneki carefully pulled it out, ensuring as he did that it wasn't damaged, with his skull and the flesh on the side of his head regenerating near instantaneously as he pulled his bloody hand out, before he brought he five inch long bug up in front of his face, inspecting the many legged creature as he did so.

The moment Jason looked up and saw what Kaneki was holding, he immediately began to scream, begging for release as he instinctively knew what Kaneki was planning on doing.

Kaneki though by this point was beyond caring, any empathy or mercy he once had were gone, replaced by an all-consuming emptiness. He didn't care about the man's pathetic sobs, or that his actions were making him a hypocrite. No, all he cared about was getting even, and inflicting torment on his former tormenter. Which is exactly what he was going to do as he put the centipede into Jason's ear, just like he had done to him, where it then instinctively began burrowing. An action that caused an almost ear splitting scream to erupt from Jason's thick, bloody lips as he thrashed about, unable to get away as Kaneki's burning red kagune kept him pinned down.

Seeing this Kaneki finally allowed the sides of his lips to twitch upward, into a small, sadistic, but still genuine smile as he listened to his tormentor's screams. With him just standing there, his body and face covered in blood, both his own and Jason's, watching for a minute, before he twisted away when he heard an explosion in the distance.

Kaneki's smile disappeared as he heard that, with it instead morphing into frown once more as he then turned and began to head towards the door, making to leave the room. Quite suddenly, he wanted to be gone, gone from this place, gone from all of the horror and misery.

"You... can't..." A weak voice spoke up, with a large, clammy hand gripping his ankle moments later as he turned to leave.

Twitching at this, Kaneki turned to look down at the dying Ghoul blankly, his grey eyes emotionless as he looked down at the twitching and pale faced man. Knowing as he did so, that without an instantaneously regenerative healing factor, like the one Kaneki possessed, then the other man would not survive the centipede burrowing through his head. On top of that Kaneki had already consumed his Kakuhou. Jason was a dead man, he just didn't know it yet, even as the centipede continued to burrow into his brain.

"You... won't..." Jason said again, his voice weak and raspy as he looked up to meet Kaneki's pitiless eyes, a burning, all consuming hatred driving him through the pain as he glared up at his victim turned killer.

With that said Jason's other hand clumsily pulled out a small controller from his pocket, his hands shaky as Kaneki continued to look curiously down at him, pondering just what the man was up to as he did so.

The moment he saw the controller though, Kaneki moved fast, his kagune exploding outwards and impaling Jason through the chest and arms, but he was too late, as Jason had been just a bit faster, pressing the button as he did so, moments before Kaneki lashed out and killed him.

Suddenly, in response to this the floor beneath them dropped. Before a moment later, Kaneki found himself in a sea of red. He was surrounded by kagune, which were created by vital organs of Ghouls, the Kakuhou. With the ceiling closing rapidly above him, just as fast as it had been opened, cutting off the light from the room above. Despite this though he could still see what was around him, using the glowing red light which came from the pulsing kagune around him.

That being said, Kaneki frowned in confusion as he looked around, unable to help but ask himself, how were these things still alive?

A crimson, droplet of blood landed on his nose, answering his internal question, as he then glanced up and saw the faint cracks of light through the hatched floor above. Blood would drip down here from the torture sessions, feeding the starving kagune enough to keep them going, even without a body.

However, if the removed organs in this 'larder', or whatever the hell is was, were still alive, then that meant that he was likely in a lot of danger.

Glancing downwards he could already see that the kagune around his feet had begun to swell up, slowly moving to cover him, with Jason's now dead body having already been mostly devoured by the monstrous pile.

Seeing this and feeling a slight stinging on the bottoms of his bare feet, Kaneki quickly realised that the kagune were already trying to absorb him, just like they were doing to Jason.

Gritting his teeth, Kaneki quickly leapt off of the pile of harvested kagune, only for him to then land on another. Ignoring this Kaneki twisted around and tried to use his kagune to try and find an exit, or force one, his red tendrils striking out at the metal walls, only to find out that the entire place was reinforced. Kagune covered the walls, preventing him from simply breaking down the metal, and the ceiling was too far above him for him to be able to reach it, and still have enough power to break through it.

That being said, he didn't give up, as he still tried to find the remote to open the ceiling. Unfortunately though it seemed that Jason had gotten the last laugh as it had vanished beneath the slowly writhing red mass.

Kaneki truly hated that man, in fact he hadn't known it was possible to hate a person this much, but he felt like he was burning up from so much hatred. He just wanted the world to burn as recompense for what he had undergone.

"Agh!" Kaneki screamed, echoing his pain around the empty chamber; calling for help in a way he didn't even realise was happening as he lashed out, clawing at the surrounding kagune with his hands, even as he started tearing into them with his teeth, trying to eat them, before they could consume him.

Dimensions away, a strange being beyond anything else heard his cries, and spared Ken Kaneki a thought, and in doing so it changed his life forever. 'This is... a very strong, realised desire. He will never flower there, but maybe if he was elsewhere. Well, if he was elsewhere then the impact he could have on the events to come, they could be truly interesting.'

It was as the being thought this that, Kaneki, who by this point was still struggling to survive, his body now completed covered in blood as he bit and gnashed at the surrounding kagune, even as said kagune began to absorb him, suddenly found himself feeling odd.

Moments later the world around him seemed to shatter, as if someone had just broken a mirror, the cracks in the air around him getting larger and large, causing Kaneki to pause in his actions and ignore the surrounding kagune as he looked around at what was happening, with him having never seen anything like this before in his life.

It was as he stopped his struggles though and started looking around that the cracks in the air around him stopped forming, with time seemingly stopping for a split second, before suddenly they seemingly imploded, with darkness consuming Kaneki moments later.

Thankfully though the all-consuming darkness only lasted for a moment, before Kaneki suddenly found himself someplace else, covered in sunlight, with cool air blowing over his body and the scent of freshly cut grass lingering in his nose.

Opening his eyes, a strange feeling of foreboding and hope built up within him as the now very confused Ken Kaneki looked around at his surroundings, only for him to find himself slumped down naked and unbloodied, in an unfamiliar emerald, green glade, the mid-morning sunlight shining down upon him.

 **( - )**

 **(Two Years later)**

It had been two years since that day, since the phenomenon, since Kaneki had somehow escaped from that pit of despair, only to somehow find himself in another world. In a place where there were no Ghouls, and in Northern America, of all places, a far cry from Tokyo in Japan, both culturally and otherwise.

Luckily though, he knew a fair bit of English from his time at school where it had been taught as a class, and his conversational English had improved drastically whilst living here, so much so that he now considered himself fluent in the language.

Originally Kaneki had awoken to find himself in the American State of California, a hot, yet surprisingly liberal part of the country, and, after headed to the only city he knew of in this state, Los Angeles or rather, LA, as the locals called it. In which he had later found that it wasn't all that hard to find someone in the criminal underbelly of the city who could forge some paperwork for him.

Furthermore there were plenty of murders and suicides in LA, far more than he had expected, which for Kaneki was ideal, as he could feed on the recently deceased corpses of suicide and murder victims, or if he gets there on time then on the murderer. Though more often than not he is late to the scene, and therefore only able to grab the scraps before disappearing into the night.

All he really had to do was to keep a weather eye out for witnesses and cameras when he was eating, or wrapping the body up in a bin bag so he could transport it someplace quieter and more secluded.

This problem though was made far easier by him getting a new mask, though to call it a mask was a bit generous when comparing it to the previous mask he had worn, after all this one was little more than a black buff that he used to cover his lower face, as well as him wearing a black parka coat with the fur lined hood pulled up to cover his white hair in order to avoid it standing out so much. With the only thing really visible in this getup being his eyes and a slight sliver of his pale skin.

That being said not everything was going well, as he had been struggling with finding any real work in the city. He had been a college student back in Tokyo, so he could fake high school papers, but the only local college that wouldn't check his background was a community college, and that still required money for a tuition and he had no history or assets against which he could get a loan, and he couldn't get a grant from the college without proof of his accomplishments from outside sources.

So, in the end, he had to temporarily give up on getting his college degree and just settled for working in the service industry, in which he already had some experience at Anteiku, with him stealing what money he could from the corpses/ meals to bolster his meagre wages, which allowed him to rent out a shitty one bed flat of his own in the city limits, and buy himself the necessities, as well as some decent clothing and furniture.

"Just a muffin, please," A young lady ordered from in front of him, making Kaneki blink for a moment before he nodded, his gaze flicking up to the woman, a plain looking blonde with thick glasses and a laptop under one arm, no doubt another wannabe writer who would sit in the café all day writing and networking, and futilely trying to catch a break, and make her dream a reality. It was a scene he had seen repeat itself many times over his two years working here. Still to each their own.

With that in mind Kaneki grabbed a napkin and a muffin from behind the counter before he handed it over to the customer, an empty smile on his face as he did so, one that she returned.

"Anything else?" Kaneki asked blandly, only for the woman to shake her head as she instead pulled out some change from her pocket. "Then that'll be $3.79, thank you," Kaneki continued, going through the motions as he rang her up on the till.

With the woman paying and then leaving without a word, not even a thank you as she instead just found a seat at one of the empty tables, opening her laptop as she did so, before she then got to work, doing the same thing she did every day she came in here, still chasing her dream, despite the odds being that she would never accomplish it, and instead just run out of money and have to head home, and get a real job.

Kaneki chuckled at his cynical inner thoughts as he looked away from the typing blonde, it was odd to think how much he had changed from the quiet, naive child he had been back when life had still been simple and he had been just an ordinary human.

Before he could muse anymore on this though, Lisa, Kaneki's kindly if ditzy, middle-aged boss, came running out from the kitchen in a rush, pulling her jacket on as she did so, her frizzy brown hair a mess as she then made an attempt to loosely tie it back in a ponytail.

"Hey, Ken! I need you to close up shop for me tonight! An emergency came up at home!" Lisa said quickly as she zipped up her coat, after which she shouldered her way to the till, taking out several notes as she did so before pocketing them. "Make sure you lock up properly, and turn on the alarm."

"Alright!" Kaneki called back easily, more than used to his flighty boss doing this, knowing as he did that this 'emergency' was more likely to be some spontaneous night out that her on again and off again partner proposed, the married man no doubt having grabbed a bit of time away from his family to spend time with Lisa, his woman on the side.

A few moments later, the door closed and, after another an hour or so, with little to no business as the café slowly emptied, Kaneki eventually started wiping down the counter and the surfaces, sweeping the floors and then binning the food that would spoil, and putting clingfilm over the stuff that wouldn't and then putting it in the fridge.

By this point it was nearly five o'clock in the evening, and he would soon need to close up shop, which wasn't all that troublesome considering how small this place was, and the type of clientele they attracted.

'Lisa's Table' as the café was called, was nothing like Anteiku was, there was much less camaraderie and such between the workers for one and the quality of the coffee wasn't great, and according to reviews the food wasn't all that good either.

But despite that, his boss Lisa, despite being a bit of a mess, was pleasant enough, and the pay wasn't quite the minimum wage.

On top of that the patrons mostly kept to themselves, focusing on their laptops and tablets and tuning everything else out, still that didn't bother him too unduly, after all this meant they ignored his odd appearance, what with his black fingernails, pale white skin and hair and the eye-patch he wore. Then again, Los Angeles was a city of eccentrics, which meant that Kaneki's own oddities often passed unnoticed even when he was walking out in public.

In fact for the most part Kaneki had found that he was content for the moment, he could make a living here for now, even if he did feel a bit lonely and isolated on occasion. With the feeling of loneliness gnawing at him from the inside on occasion, as he missed his friend Hide and the companionship he had had at Anteiku. With him having not been able to really strike up any friendships with anyone here since he first arrived.

The chiming of the bell over the door quickly distracted Kaneki from these thoughts as he looked up in surprise, he had thought that everyone had already left the café, the last of them being the young lady who bought a muffin an hour or so earlier.

But as he looked up though he saw that the bell didn't chime to announce someone leaving, but instead to make Kaneki aware that someone new had just entered the now closed café.

"I'm sorry but we're closed," Kaneki said dryly as he finished sweeping up the floors, before he then looked up at the intruder, the scent of humanity filling his nose as he eyed the newcomer with interest, noting as he did that this man looked more eccentric than even Kaneki did.

After all the man was around six foot tall, with dark skin and a bald head, over one of his eyes the man also wore a simple black, leather eyepatch, with him also wearing a knee length, black leather trench coat, and a black polo neck jumper, trousers and boots. The man definitely seemed to be trying to go for the edgy look.

"Ken Kaneki?" The dark skinned man asked as he stepped into the doorway, his broad, leather clad frame blocking it entirely for a moment, as his one visible eye surveyed the room, before locking onto Kaneki.

Nodding his head at this, Kaneki leant his broom against the counter before he fully turned to face this strange man, his single visible grey eye narrowing as he looked at the larger man curiously.

The newcomer scowled grimly at this, before he nodded, stepping in to the café fully as he did so. "You're under arrest!"

Kaneki's facial expression didn't change as he heard that, even as he saw the dark skinned man fully enter the room, a blond haired man wearing dark combat fatigues and holding a metal bow with a nocked arrow, and a sheath like mechanism full of more arrows on his back, entering after him. The man in question looking at Kaneki suspiciously as he entered, his arms twitching as he did so, even as he pulled his bow a little tauter.

"For what?" Kaneki asked carefully after a few moments, taking a step back as he did so his muscles tensing minutely, even as his single visible eye, still seemingly emotionless trailed over the duo. With him not being all that concerned about modern day Robin Hood, or the angry pirate.

After all Ghouls were incredibly durable and could easily tank bullets with no problems, in fact it had required specifically made weapons and bullets of quinque steel, a metal forged using a Ghoul's Kakuhou, an organ unique to the species, for the specially trained humans, 'the doves', to even hurt Ghouls, that or something which was heavy and had a lot of kinetic force, like a ton of building supplies falling on them from several hundred feet.

Either way he had little to fear from arrows or bullets, after all back in the place he had lived humanity had adapted to defend themselves against Ghoul's, their apex predator, whilst here they were oblivious and unprepared.

Still these people had done nothing to him yet, and so he wasn't all that keen on just killing them.

"For the desecration of at least twenty two corpses that we know of!" The dark skinned man said sharply, the hardened expression on his face not changing for a moment as he continued to stare Kaneki down.

In response to this the curiosity faded off of Kaneki's face, only for it to slowly shift into one of apathy. He had no idea how the police of this world had managed to track him, when the investigators of his own, 'the doves, specially trained in ghoul hunting, had not? But it didn't matter, they had found out and somehow tracked him, though they only seemed to be aware of a portion of what he had done, and had seemingly not linked him to the disappearances of any of the half dozen criminals he had preyed on over the last two years.

"I see," Kaneki said slowly after a few moments of thought, before he slowly began to angle his body slightly, preparing himself for a quick fight. He didn't want to kill them, but he would if they forced his hand.

That being said he would probably have to head to another state if he did so, that or leave the country entirely, maybe head somewhere that didn't spy on its citizens as much, maybe Central or South America. It would be inconvenient, but no more so that building a life for him here had been.

The dark skinned man seemed to notice Kaneki's actions, as too did his bow wielding bodyguard, with the bald man raising his hand to calm things down as he did so, the bodyguard relaxing his grip slightly, allowing the bow to go slack, even as the dark skinned man kept his single visible eye fixed on Kaneki.

"Stand down, I'm not here for a fight, if I was then I wouldn't be conversing with you like this. Rather, I'm here to make you an offer," The man continued confidently, his expression giving away no wariness of nervousness as he continued to look down on Kaneki.

In response to that Ken blinked, somewhat caught off balance by this reaction. This man was police wasn't he, and he had confronted Kaneki with the knowledge that he had 'desecrated' bodies. Then if that were the case, what on earth was this guy playing at?

"An offer?" Kaneki asked curiously, standing up straighter as he did so, though he didn't let his guard down quite yet, as he felt his Kakuhou pulse on his lower back, even as he prepared to unleash his kagune at any moment.

"Yes an offer. Though first how about an introduction? I am Director Nick Fury, and at present I have fifty of my best agents, armed with everything from pistols to sniper rifles ready and waiting outside the shop, positioned all around. Now you have a choice, you can either be forcefully arrested here and now, or you can come along peacefully. If you do come peacefully, then we are willing to give you quite a bit of leeway in your sentencing." The now named Nick Fury sad confidently, his expression unrelenting, and his tone of voice demanding. This was a man who was used to people doing what he told them to do, when he told them to do it, Kaneki could pick up on that instantly.

"Why so many? I haven't killed anybody," Kaneki said blandly, skipping over the fact that this was a lie as he instead went off of Fury's accusations, and the over the top reaction.

Besides Fury's words, despite being meant to intimidate, didn't really mean much to the white haired Ghoul, after all it wasn't like guns could hurt him. And even if some high calibre, armour piercing bullet did manage to penetrate his skin, then he would heal from it almost instantaneously, so long as they didn't hit his kagune he would be fine.

"Correct, which is another reason why we are willing to give you leeway. However, we have been watching you for about a year and a half now, and the few times we have spotted you, we have seen you making the same jumps as the suicide victims you end up eating, yet unlike them you never end up dead." Fury replied, not a hint of distaste as he openly stated the fact that Kaneki ate human flesh, though Kaneki did note that this Fury's Intel was not absolute, after all they had found out about his preying on suicide victims, but not on murder victims or murderers.

"Furthermore, we have seen evidence of your combat abilities in filmed cage matches downtown, as I said we have been aware of you for a while now, and have been tracking your every movement for the last couple of months. And besides I'm a cautious guy, and suspect you are capable of even more than what we have actually seen." Fury then continued, his eye narrowing at the disinterested expression on Kaneki's face, as he once again tried to bait him.

Kaneki though knew what Fury was doing, he was trying to put him off balance, and make it seem like he knew more about Kaneki than he did. It was a gamble, but the man had taken it, that being said Fury's expression was inscrutable, so for all Ken knew he could know more, but just be holding back so as to try and trick him somehow.

Kaneki frowned at that thought, uncertain what to do as this Fury character had a damn good poker face. It was true that he had taken part in cage matches, earning himself a bit of extra money that he could stash away, just like the valuables he took from his meals. It was also true that he predominantly hunted for suicide victims, and that he was slightly more sloppy with recovering their remains than he was otherwise, after all suicides tended to be in secluded out of the way spots.

Kaneki's eyes narrowed slightly as he eyed Fury up and down, uncertain about just what the older man was thinking. It was as he did this that he glanced past Fury and saw the bow and arrow wielding man grimace a bit at the 'eating' part, showing a more natural response, even if it did make him bristle a bit. It wasn't his fault he had to eat people to survive!

Still it also meant that Fury hadn't fully disclosed everything about Kaneki to his subordinates, which meant he was playing his cards close to his chest, even with his own allies.

 **( - )**

As for Fury, he was entirely undeterred by the white haired man's proclivities, silence, and his piercing gaze, as he instead continued speaking without provocation, pretending not to notice the interplay between Kaneki and the bow wielding man, Clint.

Instead Fury forged on with his sales pitch, internally tensing as he eyed Ken Kaneki's blank face, trying to read the younger man, just as the younger man was obviously trying to read him.

"Fortunately for you, this all lends itself to your case. We are willing to overlook your... habits, seeing as you've not killed any innocents that we know of, in return for your cooperation on the Avenger's Initiative Project." Fury finished, his eye narrowing as he saw a flash of curiousity and wariness flash across the younger man's face at his words.

 **( - )**

Ken looked at him slightly confused now, this is not what he had been expecting at all. In fact none of this had, first things first he hadn't expected to be caught, and then if he was, then he expected that he would have had to fight to escape and then flee. An offer to overlook his habits, and a request for his cooperation with some Avenger's Initiative, that was not something he had expected.

"Avenger's Initiative?" Kaneki asked bluntly, his gaze flicking from Fury to his bodyguard and back, before he glanced out of the window trying to find these 'fifty agents'.

"A gathering of skilled or extremely talented individuals, who when combined will form the Earth's last line of defence against anyone or anything that might threaten it. You agreeing to be a part of it would mean that if we need your help for a case or a situation, then you would come running and help save the world," Fury explained quite succinctly his gaze boring into Kaneki, as if daring him to say no.

Kaneki though didn't answer immediately as he thought over Fury's words for a moment puzzled. His explanation hadn't been great and what he would get from helping out was still not fully explained.

"But in the meantime, you leave me alone?" Kaneki asked after a few moments, his gaze back on Fury. "I continue going about my daily life with no interference?"

"Correct, you can continue doing what you do. But we'll still be watching, and the moment you kill someone from this point forward, then we will come down on you with no mercy," Fury stated, his face hardening as he looked at Ken.

Kaneki's eyes narrowed as he heard that, he didn't necessarily need to kill for food, anyway, even if it would taste better fresh. In fact the only reason he had killed since coming here was when he saw said person kill another in cold blood, the only people he had killed, had themselves been hardened criminals and murderers. As such he had deemed it a public service to remove them from the streets, as well as a treat for himself.

He had never harmed anyone he deemed innocent, nor people who committed petty crimes. He might have fully accepted his status as a Ghoul, but remnants of his humanity remained.

Besides those kills had been very few. Only six over the course of two years, and if it meant giving him a peaceful life then he would desist, unless he believed he had no other choice, or had to defend himself. Instead he would return to just preying on suicides and the occasional accidental death.

"If I agree, you'll leave me alone? And if I do end up helping, my fighting style is very violent, would I be arrested?" Kaneki asked, wanting assurances now, after all if this man had gone to all this trouble, then he and his organisation would likely continue pursuing Kaneki, even if he did flee the country.

"Yes, as I already said. And I believe that I can trust you to gauge the situation correctly, your psychological profile indicates that you are generally a quiet and thoughtful person," Fury replied promptly, relaxing slightly as Kaneki appeared to agree with him, with the cannibal only now quibbling over the terms of his participation.

Kaneki tilted his head to the side for a moment as he heard that, after all he couldn't help but think to himself that it was only his human half that was that way, when he allowed himself to eat and fully indulge in his Ghoulish side, well there was not as much thought involved, more instinct, hunger and a callous, cruel disregard for life. He had been working to fix that and bring the two distinct pieces of his personality into balance, but like with everything, these things took time.

Despite that though, Fury's offer, or rather his ultimatum, sounded like a good deal. Too good of a deal really, but then again he already knew the catch, he could be pulled away at any moment to fight a 'global threat', but then again how often did those occur really? Though he was curious about why they had approached him now, and not a year ago if they had indeed been watching him for that long? Yet, perhaps there were others like him, maybe not Ghouls, but other unique people who didn't quite fit in to the normal mould. Now he would be interested to meet individuals like that, after all, after having experienced life as a Ghoul, for all the pain and fear involved, he had also found it exhilarating, a far cry from the boredom of mundane life.

"Alright, I accept," Ken said carefully after several long minutes of thought, his mind racing as he went over the pros and cons of Fury's offer, and what it may or may not mean to him if he accepted it, or chose not to.

Fury nodded curtly in response.

"I'll hold you to that," Fury then replied, before he turned to leave, only pausing to look over his shoulder at the white haired man as he did so. "Oh, and Kaneki, do try to avoid the local police. We won't be able to help you if you get caught by them, there would too much negative media attention."

Then with that final comment Fury walked out of the small coffee shop, his bow wielding companion silently followed behind him, sending a single wary glance back at Kaneki as he did so, before he left the café, closing the door behind the two of them.

Moments after they left Kaneki locked the front door to the café and then pulled down the blinds, hiding the inside from view, with Kaneki letting out a loud breath of air once he did so, before he then rested his head lightly on the doorframe.

Why did he have a feeling he would be called for soon rather than later? And as for Fury's final comment about avoiding the local police? Did that mean then that Fury and his 'agents' were not local? Then, were they from a central base, like the American secret service, be it the CIA or FBI, or whichever one it was? Or perhaps they were a part of an even larger organisation?

Ken sighed at that though, at least he had managed to get his freedom without bloodshed. It would have been a shame to kill them all.

In fact he probably would have likely ended up with a target on his back from law enforcement the world over for the rest of his life, and would have been hounded by this Nick Fury's comrades from this point onwards, had he gone ahead and just killed them like he had first thought to do.

Shaking his head at that, Ken Kaneki grabbed his broom from where it was lying propped up against the counter and got back to work as he finished sweeping up the shop and then locked up. He kind of felt like getting something to eat after all of the excitement.

 **( - )**

 **(A couple of weeks later)**

"Regular black coffee please, no sugar or cream or anything like that in it." A smartly dressed man with short black hair, an expensive high quality, grey suit and sunglasses, inside, requested, his tone coming out confident, and smooth as he wrapped his hand on the counter and sent Kaneki an amused smile.

Ken blinked as he heard this, his gaze flicking to the man's face, before going down to the man's hands as he pulled a the thick wad of notes he had in a money clip from his pocket, thumbing through them as he looked up at Kaneki and gave him a pleasant smile.

Tilting his head to the side curiously Kaneki realised that he recognised the man, though he was not sure just why someone like him was here. After all the man was Tony Stark, some billionaire weapon designer, who had apparently gotten himself kidnapped a while ago, and then had a change of heart upon his return from captivity, after which he then decided to build himself a robotic suit and become a superhero by the name of 'Ironman'.

The older, middle-aged man was almost constantly in the news for one thing or another, so Kaneki was more than aware of who he was. Though just why one of the richest men in the world was ordering a coffee from a shitty little café like the one Kaneki worked at, he didn't know? Didn't the guy have a personal chef and butlers, or something like that?

"Ah, sure, that'll be $4.53," Kaneki said after a few moments, ignoring the gawking customers and other members of staff as he instead turned and set about making the 'celebrity' a coffee, all the while thinking of just why a guy like Stark was in this coffee shop, and whether it was a coincidence that Ironman paid him a visit only a couple of weeks after that Nick Fury had.

"Yeah sure," Stark replied easily before he thumbed through his wad of cash, after which he grabbed a five dollar bill and handed it over to Kaneki, waiting for him to ring up the order on the till, before Stark then held out his hand expectantly, waiting for his change, which Kaneki handed over. "And make it fast, Hannibal, I'm in a bit of a hurry today."

Kaneki froze for a fraction of a second after hearing that, picking up on the film reference, after all he didn't have much of a social life and needed something to do in his free time, before seemingly without any reaction he calmly met the smirking billionaire's gaze.

"Of course, sir," Kaneki replied after a moment before he turned and finished Stark's order, even as Stark watched him, the wealthy superhero ignoring the muttering of his fans around him, and of the others who recognised him for one thing or another.

Bringing the hot coffee in its cardboard container over to the counter, Kaneki handed it over to Stark, his gaze still locked on the man, who in response merely held it up to him in a gesture of thanks, before he then walked out of the shop. The billionaire not even leaving a tip, the bastard!

Still Tony Stark's tightness didn't particularly bother Kaneki at the moment, no, instead he was more concerned with just how many people knew about him?

 **( - )**

 **(A couple of weeks later)**

It was a couple weeks later, after his unusually meeting with Tony Stark, that Ken Kaneki saw the news.

Currently he was sat in his armchair in his shitty one bedroom apartment, the curtains closed and the television on, a nice hot cup of coffee sitting on the side table beside his chair, and his bare feet raised and resting on the cluttered coffee table in front of him. With him taking a few moments to relax, after having just gotten in from work.

However it seemed that was not to be, as within about ten minutes of sitting down he found that the current television programme he was watching, an American sitcom called 'Friends', was unexpectedly interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.

Seeing this Kaneki casually put down the human arm he had been chewing on, a snack leftover from last night, and instead looked at the screen blankly.

His eyes trailing over the image of a massive crater, one that the news helicopters were currently circling over, filming, even as the newscaster spoke giving context to this odd image.

"...no one is quite sure of what was being researched there, but last night a secret government facility collapsed, killing hundreds of workers and trapping hundreds more inside. Officials have declined to give any comments regarding the situation, but work is still ongoing as rescuers try to dig out those trapped within the complex, initial estimates put the casualties at nearly several hundred and rising."

Kaneki frowned as he saw this, even as the image of the massive, kilometre wide crater vanished, only for the television to then show clips of people digging out the dead bodies, the news anchor commenting all the while, speculating on what might have happened, and appealing that anyone that knew anything, or had loved ones working there should get in touch.

It was all very macabre, Kaneki noted that much, then again accidents happened, and for the moment all he really thought about the situation was that if he could got over there quick enough then he might be able to get a small stockpile of food for his larder from the carnage.

Then again there was a lot of media attention, too much maybe.

Nodding to himself at that, Kaneki moments later decided that attempting to get over there to salvage some bodies really wasn't worth the risk of exposure, which is why he instead reached for the remote, hoping to change the channel to something else, after all he enjoyed watching television whilst he ate.

However before he could do so, Ken's ear twitched as he heard a vibrating sound coming from somewhere in his apartment. Glancing around he quickly locked onto the source, a small, black mobile phone which was sitting on his coffee table, the screen lighting up blue as it loudly buzzed.

The phone had arrived anonymously in the mail about three weeks prior with no note, though he had guessed pretty quickly who it was from. After all who else would want to send him a top of the line phone, other than Nick Fury, the mysterious agent he had met all those weeks ago, the one who had requested his help, in return for immunity, so long as he didn't kill anyone, which thus far he hadn't.

Eyeing the still buzzing phone, Kaneki wondered for a moment if he could get away with ignoring it, after all he had just gotten back from work and hadn't even stripped out of his work clothes yet, his black polo shirt with green outline around the sleeves, and black jeans.

Then again if he was being called for a legitimate global threat, well, he could hardly leave humans to deal with it alone, could he?

Sighing at that all too human sentimentality, Kaneki reached over and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Kaneki, I need you to be ready to leave now! An agent will be there within a couple minutes to pick you up." Fury said immediately the moment Kaneki answered, his tone brusque as he brushed aside conventional decorum like saying 'hello', and instead got straight to the point.

"Alright," Ken replied just as abruptly, before he glanced down forlornly at the arm, his after work snack. He could throw it in the freezer once the agent got there. He would have to change shirts though, this one had blood stains on it and would need a wash before he wore it again. Luckily he had quite a few others in his dresser so that was not too much of a concern.

Unfortunately though it would appear that he might not get the opportunity, as moments later after Fury sharply hung up the phone, once again ignoring standard social conventions like saying 'goodbye', Kaneki's doorbell rang.

So much for having a couple minutes to get ready, or prepare himself Kaneki thought, as he sighed, before he went to the door, opening it carefully as he did so, leaving it ajar for a few moments as he peered out, only to see a balding, middle-aged man in a plain black suit, white shirt and black tie standing there, the man pretty much embodying what most people would think an agent would look like.

"Ken Kaneki?" The man at the door asked abruptly, his gaze flat and lacking any real emotion as he stared Kaneki straight in the face, pausing for a moment as Ken nodded, before he then continued. "The name is Agent Coulson, I understand Fury has been in contact. I'm here to take you to where the Avengers will be meeting up," The now named Coulson then continued, extending his hand as he did so, an expectant expression now on his face.

Ken blinked slightly at this curt greeting and explanation even as he opened the door a bit more, his grey eyes fixed curiously on the man, noticing as he did so that Coulson hadn't even flinched, or blinked at Kaneki's blood stained mouth and shirt.

Tilting his head to the side Kaneki glanced down at the offered hand, though he didn't take it, aware as he was that his own hands were currently covered in blood, but he did open the door fully now, stepping aside to let the man inside as he did so.

"Please wait a moment while I get changed," Kaneki said quietly as Coulson stepped into the small studio apartment, the middle-aged man's gaze roaming around the small one bed apartment, roaming over the windows, cupboards, corners and doors almost automatically. With Kaneki's apartment being open plan, in that the bedroom, kitchen and lounge were all in a single large room, with their being another smaller room connected, with this being the bathroom.

It was as the agent was looking around the room that his gaze landed on the bodiless, half eaten, arm, which was just lying limply on a plate on the coffee table.

In response to seeing the arm though, not a hint of emotion or discomfort flashed across Coulson's face, as he instead looked at it blandly for a few moments, before looking away.

There was no disgust, no hate, and no curiosity on his face, just a bland look of disinterest as he looked back at Kaneki.

Glancing back at the agent, Ken let loose a slight sigh before he wandered over to the table, picking up the arm as he did, before he then threw it into the freezer.

He hated freezing things for long, the blood expanded and bruised the surrounding tissue, taking away a lot of the flavour. It probably wouldn't be much good by the time he got back.

Still he had made an agreement with Fury, and Kaneki was a man of his word. So with that done, he then grabbed a change of shirt and a hoodie from his drawer and stepped into the bathroom. An already dead arm not attached to a body didn't bleed that much, so he just needed to rinse his face and change his shirt.

Filling the sink bowl with hot water, Kaneki then dipped his hands into it before he then scrubbed them to get the little bit of blood off, before pooling the water in his cupped hands and then bringing it up to wash the drying blood off of his face.

After which he then looked up at himself in the mirror, his own dispassionate grey eyes looking back at him, with his white hair seeming to shine in the dim light. Running a pale hand through his hair, Kaneki sighed again before he then checked his face over for any bits of blood he might have missed.

Not finding any he then pulled off his blood stained polo shirt and dropped it onto the floor, before he then kicked it into the corner of the room, after which he then pulled on a clean black T-shirt, and then pulled on a dark grey hoodie over the top. After which he then glanced back at his reflection, wondering as he did whether or not he should bring his mask.

Shrugging Kaneki then grabbed his black buff out from the laundry basket, throwing the blood stained shirt in it as he did so, before he pulled it on over his head, adjusting it as he did so, so that it entirely covered his lower face up to his eyes, with the pattern on the buff, of a grinning skeletal mouth now covering his own.

Tilting his head at this Kaneki then plunged his hand into the pocket of his trousers and grabbed his eyepatch, pulling the black leather patch out as he did so, before he then covered up his Ghoulish left eye, not that it looked all that Ghoulish at the moment, still it was pretty unique and memorable when the sclera did turn black and the iris crimson, and so was something he would rather keep quiet.

With that done, Kaneki then flipped up the hood of his hoodie, hiding his white hair from view as he did so, before he then stepped out of the bathroom and faced Coulson. The agent only raising an eyebrow at the addition of the mask, and but said nothing, no doubt he had seen Kaneki in a similar getup when he had surveyed the surveillance his organisation had of him.

Ignoring that for the moment though, Kaneki merely rolled his shoulders before giving Coulson a dull look. "Ok then, I'm ready."

 **( - )**

 **AN: So a hefty first chapter eh, longer than most of my first chapters, but I felt it was a good introduction, and setups the events of the first Avenger's film. Though once again Kaneki will be making significant impacts, so the further the story progresses the more things will change. On top of that I will not just be focusing on the film series, but will also ghost over bits and pieces from the wider MCU, including the television series, and X-men series.**

 **Though I have got it all planned out so I will hopefully be sticking tightly to my plot for the first few chapters, though there will be flexibility to alter things as I go forward. So please do review as I am always looking for advice, ideas and other people's opinions.**

 **On top of that I feel this crossover type, Tokyo Ghoul/ Avengers, has nowhere near as many stories in it as it should, so would love to see other stories coming forwards.**

 **Other than that thanks for reading, and please leave a review. Also check out my other stories if you have some free time. Two of which are up for adoption if someone is interested.**

 **Also the following stories are still being written and updated:**

 **The Last King (PJ/ GoT)**

 **The Frozen Throne (PJ/ GoT)**

 **Carry On My Wayward Son (PJ/ AtlA)**

 **The Renegade (HP)**

 **The Dawn of Fairy Tal (HP/ GoT)**

 **These are all still active and being written.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Greed720.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So a moderate response to last chapter, enough to get this chapter out though. I hope you all enjoy it and leave a review at the end.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Marvel.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Tilting his head at this Kaneki then plunged his hand into the pocket of his trousers and grabbed his eyepatch, pulling the black leather patch out as he did so, before he then covered up his Ghoulish left eye, not that it looked all that Ghoulish at the moment, still it was pretty unique and memorable when the sclera did turn black and the iris crimson, and so was something he would rather keep quiet._

 _With that done, Kaneki then flipped up the hood of his hoodie, hiding his white hair from view as he did so, before he then stepped out of the bathroom and faced Coulson. The agent only raising an eyebrow at the addition of the mask, and but said nothing, no doubt he had seen Kaneki in a similar getup when he had surveyed the surveillance his organisation had of him._

 _Ignoring that for the moment though, Kaneki merely rolled his shoulders before giving Coulson a dull look. "Ok then, I'm ready."_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 2**

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later)**

It was about thirty minutes later that Kaneki, still in his mainly black and grey costume of sorts, stepped out of a black SUV, and onto a small private airstrip on the outskirts of LA, where a quinjet, a high-tech military aircraft was waiting for them.

With Coulson, the quiet, serious and suited agent who had collected him, following along closely behind him. With the overly serious agent exchanging a nod with two, black clad, armed men who were flanking the quinjet as he did so, after which the pair of them made to board the high-tech jet.

For Kaneki the entire ride from his apartment to the airstrip had been mostly silent, with Coulson only speaking to give a bit more context to the attack on the military facility that had been on the news, the one that was now a crater, and to explain the mission which was to find a man who called himself Loki.

With this man being an apparent alien, and not the immigrant kind, but the extra-terrestrial kind. Not only that though, this Loki was also supposedly incredibly dangerous, capable of mind-control, and was now wielding a blue, square like object that was called the Tesseract. Which according to Coulson, also happened to be an unlimited energy source.

That was pretty much all Kaneki had been told, that and the fact that he would be joining a team of other 'unique' individuals to track this Loki down, capture him, and reclaim the Tesseract.

Following on from this brief explanation, the rest of the journey had passed in relative silence. With Kaneki not being that much of a fan of small talk, or all that interested in speaking with the stoic agent.

Which was something which Coulson seemed to share as the man had seemed content with the silence, and completely disinterested in Kaneki, which was a little surprising considering the fact that he had likely been debriefed that Kaneki was a cannibal with inhuman abilities.

Still the journey had been mostly silent, and Kaneki and Coulson both boarded the quinjet without incident, whilst the two armed men guarding it headed in the opposite direction, and towards the SUV they had just left.

Upon boarding the aircraft though, Kaneki tensed as he noticed that there was already someone else on board, a tall, blond haired man, with blue eyes and a bright smile.

Unlike the other agents that Kaneki had met thus far though, this new man was wearing a brown leather jacket, a white T-shirt and loose jeans, all of which was very casual.

Looking at him with his single visible eye, Kaneki noted that this might be one of these 'unique' individuals he would be working with, though just what made the man 'unique', Kaneki wasn't sure of yet. But as he entered the quinjet and made to sit down a couple of feet from where the blonde was sitting, his heightened senses picked up on the scent of the man's flesh, and suffice to say, he smelled odd, almost artificial, like what a hunk of meat which had been treated with additives and chemicals to enhance the flavour would smell. It wasn't bad, but at the same time it wasn't the same as proper meat.

Still, despite the artificialness of the man's scent, Kaneki still absently rolled his tongue about in his mouth hungrily, he had been interrupted halfway through his snack, and was still a little peckish. That being said the man looked too muscly, which although much healthier than fat, meant that it would be a bit tougher, and not quite as tasty, nowhere near as good as younger, softer flesh.

Ignorant to the thoughts swirling around Kaneki's head, the man instead glanced up as Ken approached, his blue eyes widening in surprise at his appearance, before he looked over to Coulson, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Ken Kaneki, this is Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America. Steve, this is Ken Kaneki," Coulson said as he saw the look on the Captain's face, his tone of voice far more enthusiastic than it had been when Coulson had just been talking to Kaneki, as the man instead smiled warmly at this Steve, even as he introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you." Steve said with a smile as he reached out to shake Kaneki's hand, only for Kaneki to give him a nod instead and a muttered "you to", with him being polite but not overly chummy or touchy feely.

Nodding at that Steve withdrew his hand, his blue eyes narrowing as he looked at the small portion of Kaneki's face that was visible, and identified that he was a Jap. Not that there was anything wrong with that as Steve knew the war was over now, still it for him it just felt like only a few months ago that they were at war with the Japs, and the US media were telling all the horror stories about them, and their odd culture. It was for this reason, with this thought in mind that he assumed Kaneki might not have shaken his hand for cultural reasons, which might also be why he was coming across as quite quiet and disinterested as well.

"He's a bit young isn't he Coulson?" Steve then said as he tore his eyes away from the still quiet Kaneki as he sat down a couple of feet away, with the blonde instead looking over at Coulson, the smile back on his face as he did so.

"He's older than you were when you first joined up," Coulson replied, with a slight smile. "Besides he's in his twenties, probably not all that much younger than you are now."

Steve simply nodded, glancing back over at Ken as he did so, his eyes lingering on the eyepatch and the half mask on his lower face, obviously the kid looked a lot younger than he was. "That's fair enough, and I am sure we'll work well together after we get to properly know one another. It almost feels like going back to the training camp, what with meeting new people and seeing new things."

Coulson nodded at that, his eyes suddenly gleaming with a hint of excitement, and almost hunger as he looked at this 'Captain America', though likely not the same hunger that afflicted Kaneki. "Well if you have a bit of spare time at some point, I would love to hear some of your stories about back then?"

Steve smiled at that and nodded, his lip curling upwards at Phil Coulson's interest in his stories, it was an attitude he had gotten used to during his time in the military as a war hero.

Coughing slightly a moment later, Coulson seemed to realise the way he was coming across, as seconds later he once again became serious, with him then turning to both Steve and Kaneki, and then pulling a large tablet out of his briefcase, before he switched it on and handed it over to Steve, gesturing for Kaneki to come over so he could see the screen too. "I want both of you to take a look at the files I've had loaded onto this tablet, as these files with contain information about the people who are going to be your teammates for this mission. Though I will say now, not all the information about these individuals will be in the files, as some of it is very sensitive, and has been redacted as you don't have the clearance to see it."

Nodding at this, both Ken and Steve moved to look at the screen, before the two of them watched silently as Coulson, using his own smaller mobile device which was wirelessly connected to the tablet, flicked through several files.

The tablet showing pictures of several different individuals, each of which had a brief bio, personality break down and description of skillset attached, though looking at each of them, Kaneki could only assume that these had all be kept to the bare minimum. Things that were necessary to know if they were working together, but nothing too in depth.

This included an attractive, and lithe red haired woman by the name of Natasha Romanov, also known as 'Black Widow', who was apparently some former KGB assassin/ spy, turned SHIELD agent. With her being someone who was incredibly skilled in hand to hand fighting, an assortment of weapons, and with infiltration and stealth.

Then there was the billionaire, business man/ weapons maker, Tony Stark, also known as 'Ironman', who's profile described him as being arrogant, egotistical and narcissistic, with a severe superiority complex and an aversion to taking orders, but who also a tech genius, with a robotic suit that gave him access to an entire arsenal of high tech weaponry and gadgets.

After that there was then Bruce Banner, also known as the 'Hulk', who was a dark haired, plain, unassuming looking man, and a genius like Tony Stark, though one that specialised in Gamma Radiation, which led to him having a lab accident that had somehow turned him in to a giant, green, indestructible, unstoppable rage monster when he got angry. On top of that it was noted that he was neurotic, suffered from severe anxiety, and would not be taking part in the practical portion of the mission, but instead as support, due to his mental and emotional instability.

Following on from that there was Steve Rogers, also known as 'Captain America', an apparent war hero from the Second World War, who midway through the conflict was given a super solider serum which in turn gave him enhanced physical abilities, and turned a skinny, eight/ nine stone kid, into a hulking, musclebound soldier. Following on from that the personality description, was that Captain America optimised the word hero, and was loyal, dependable, skilled at leading and making tactical decisions, and acted to do the right thing no matter what. A glowing bio that Kaneki assumed Coulson had some part in writing.

Then finally after that, there was Kaneki's file, with there being a distant picture of him working behind the till at the café, and a short description of his observed psychological profile and strengths. Which basically assumed he had enhanced physical capabilities and was skilled in hand to hand combat. With the file then going on to state he had a quiet, standoffish demeanour, and little to no known background, and history, and no known personal connections. It was a very sparse profile, much more meagre than those for his other 'teammates'.

That being said, Kaneki noted with interest that it never once mentioned that he ate people. Was SHIELD trying to keep that hidden? After all depending on how close he worked with these teammates, and how long they were together, his cannibalistic habits would likely come to light eventually? It just seemed a bit unnecessary to hide it, or at least to Kaneki it did.

"Any questions." Coulson finished about a half an hour later as the quinjet continued to fly through the air, and he finished giving them a run down on who they would be working with, and showed them some videos and pictures.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve asked, speaking up in response to Coulson as he watched a short video of the Hulk, a giant nine foot tall, green, mass of muscle and fury, smashing things. Any remnant of genius scientist gone, as this creature instead lashed out in pure, instinctual fury.

Looking at the creature, Kaneki couldn't help but feel pity for the creature, linking the out of control Banner, with a Ghoul that had gone without food for a month, both of them lashed out at those around them, seeking to sate themselves in death and destruction. Only for a Ghoul all they needed was to eat and they could regain control, unless they were a binge eater, as then eating too much could make them lose control even more.

Kaneki himself could understand, even empathise a little bit with Banner's plight, after all he had been human before he had become a Ghoul, and as such had had human sensibilities, which meant he had initially seen the fact he needed to eat human flesh to survive as abhorrent. Which had led to him abstaining from it, and slowly starving, which in turn had caused him to nearly lose his mind and eat his best friend, Hide, alive. So yeah, Kaneki could understand to a point, but unlike Banner, Kaneki now had complete control over his Ghoulish side, in fact he had fully embraced it, probably more than he ever had his human half.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero." Coulson replied, once again fanboying over the other man. Maybe a bit unnecessarily, after all if people like Banner, Kaneki and Rogers existed now, surely there had been others over the thousands of years that humanity had walked the earth.

To call Captain America the first superhero was being a bit disingenuous to the others that had likely come before him, and who had used their abilities to benefit the world. Though that was just Kaneki's thoughts on the matter, after all he was still new to this whole concept of 'superheroes', and was uncertain as to what actually defined a superhero, and whether the definition would actually stretch to him.

Oblivious to Kaneki's cynical thoughts about Coulson's hero worship, the man instead forged on, his attention once again entirely on Captain America. "And like many others before him, Banner tried to replicate the serum, only he thought Gamma Radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula, Though as you can see…"

"It didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve said absently, watching as the hulking, green beast picked up a truck and threw it, his eyes narrowing at how seventy years after he was put through the procedure, and Erskine was killed, people were still trying to replicate the process.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking," Coulson explained with a slight smile, before he paused for a moment as he saw the confused expression on Steve's face. "He's like a really smart person. Oh and by the way, well, I just want to say that it's an honour to meet you, officially, I mean. As, well, I sort of met you already, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, sorry that sounds wrong, what I meant was... that I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honour to have you on board!"

Kaneki winced as he heard Coulson's disjointed rambling, his grey eyes flicking from the formally, serious and suave agent, to the blonde 'superhero', looking for the reaction.

That being said, Kaneki was pretty sure he had heard of Captain America once or twice since being here, or he had at least heard that his frozen corpse had been uncovered. But he really was curious, was the guy really that famous? He had seen the Captain's profile when they were looking through them, so he knew he had been frozen and thought dead for a long time, but still.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve replied with a nod and a smile to Coulson, before he then glanced out of the window to see that the quinjet was now flying very rapidly flying over water.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform too. I had a little design input." Coulson replied smiling at the captain again, Kaneki apparently forgotten as he instead gushed over Steve Rogers.

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?" Steve asked a slight frown on his face, before he then looked pointedly at the simple, but smart black suit Coulson was wearing, and the hoodies and jeans that Kaneki had on, a far cry from, the flashy red, white and blue outfit that he wore during his two years on the battlefield, where he had acted a symbol for the American soldiers and for the resistance against the Nazi/ Hydra threat.

"With everything that's happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned," Coulson said somewhat cryptically, before he looked out of the window, and down at the enormous aircraft carrier they were approaching, one which already had more than a score of other quinjets on it, and hundreds of men and women, in dark uniform, running backwards and forwards. "It looks like we're here."

Kaneki looked out of the window too as he heard that, his single visible grey eye narrowing at the thought of being stuck on a floating, metal tub, with hundreds of tasty morsels for who knows how long. He could only hope they kept him well fed down there, as the last thing he wanted was to get hungry and go on a rampage, after all he wasn't sure he wanted to tangle with this Hulk creature.

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later)**

It was about ten minutes later that the quinjet landed on the aircraft carrier, and the ramp lowered, with Steve and Ken following Coulson out of the jet and onto the busy landing pad, where they were intercepted by a familiar, beautiful red-haired woman.

Their soon to be team mate, Black Widow, and suffice to say the pictures didn't do her justice, as she looked far more mesmerising in person than she did on a screen. With the red head in question, wearing a full, black combat suit, with the SHIELD emblem on the right breast, and a utility belt around her hips, from which Kaneki could identify that she had at least two guns, as well as however many other weapons she had on her person.

"Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Steve Rogers and Mr. Ken Kaneki. Boys, this is Agent Natasha Romanoff," Coulson introduced, a slight smile on his face as he nodded to Natasha, before gesturing to the two men behind him, both of whom he knew Natasha had had a briefing on, which meant she didn't need to be told who they were. Still social convention dictated that introductions were necessary.

"Ma'am," Steve said, with an incline of his head to Natasha and a smile, even as he strode over his hand out, only for it to be ignored by the red head as she instead just nodded at him, the agent seemingly as picky about her personal space and unwanted physical contact as Kaneki was. With this no doubt leaving Steve Rogers's somewhat miffed.

Kaneki however just nodded at her, getting a brief one and a sideways look in return before she turned her attention to Coulson, her blue eyes locking on the man as she got straight down to the point. "They need you on the bridge. Face time."

"Alright, I'll see you there," Coulson replied with a nod, before he turned and waved at the three, mainly Steve Rogers, and gave a quick "goodbye", before he walked away, heading in the direction of a nearby door.

Leaving Kaneki and Steve with Natasha, as he did so. The two of them standing around awkwardly with the attractive red head as they milled about, waiting to be told what they were supposed to do, or where they were supposed to go, or where they were even staying whilst on the ship.

Looking between the two of them contemplatively, Natasha's blue eyes roamed over the darkly dressed Kaneki, locking on him for a moment, an odd look in her gaze, before it then shifted onto the more normally dressed Steve.

"You know there was quite the buzz around here, when they found you in the ice and thawed you out still. I thought Coulson was literally going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked a hint of amusement in her voice as she looked at the Captain, somewhat putting the larger man off balance, with her sudden and direct words.

"Trading cards?" Steve asked in confusion before he looked between the red head and the inscrutable Kaneki, looking for an answer as to just what she was talking about.

"They're vintage, he's very proud," Natasha explained, somewhat unhelpfully, before she then turned to look at Kaneki, her expression not changing as she eyed him up and down, "And you, no one quite knew what to do with you. A cannibalistic hero who seemingly doesn't kill, or I suppose anti-hero would probably be a better description considering your… tendencies."

"What? Cannibal?" Steve asked in confusion, picking up on the word and what it meant as he turned and stared at Kaneki, uncertain what to make of Natasha's statement. After all he remembered back in 1920's whilst he was in school, learning about some cannibalistic tribes in Africa, but he hadn't believed that was really a thing, and certainly wouldn't be happening in this day and age.

That being said, he also recognised Romanov as a Russian name, and although he had not caught up with everything yet, he knew better than to fully trust a Red on their word, they might have helped during the war, but he had heard some things about Stalin and his commie ilk.

Kaneki however recognised what Natasha was doing, her words were pointed, and were meant to put the two of them off guard. He might not be a trained spy or anything, but he was very observant, and always had been, and could recognised her ploy for what it was.

Which is why he just shrugged her comment off, besides he didn't care what they thought about him, as long as they didn't impede him and left him to his own devices, they could think what they wanted.

Perhaps in a past life, before he had accepted his nature, he might have argued that it wasn't his fault and that he couldn't help it, but the past didn't change the present. And, since he was half human, he was technically a cannibal, though obviously SHIELD's Intel was not absolute if they didn't think him a killer, though from the inflection in her voice, Kaneki concluded that this Agent Romanov obviously thought him very much capable of killing, which he obviously was.

Following on from that there was a few moments of awkward silence as Kaneki kept quiet, not rising to the potential argument, and Steve silently watched him with a thoughtful, and slightly uncomfortable expression on his face.

Soon enough though the silence was broken, by some shouts on deck, coming from another direction. Something which seized Steve's attention as he looked in the direction of the voices, with Natasha sending him one more look, before she too looked over to the source of the voice, a familiar looking middle aged man, with brown eyes, and average body type and facial features, the kind of guy who would just disappear in a crowd.

"Dr. Banner!" Steve Rogers said as he walked over to the man, who at that moment was standing near the edge. With the two of them greeting one another, and shaking hands, no doubt a relief for Steve, after which they began talking about something or other a few moments later.

Seeing this Natasha gave Banner a curt nod, before turned away from the group and went to speak with another agent.

Kaneki ignored all of this as he instead looked around and got his first proper look at the ship, and the scores of people running about it, going about their daily jobs, whatever they may be.

A few minutes later though, Kaneki was interrupted from his musings by Agent Romanov who walked over to him, gesturing for his attention.

"You might want to get inside, we're going up and the winds could knock you straight off," Natasha said once she had his attention, before she turned and walk over to Banner and Rogers to give them the same warning. With looking over her shoulder before she did though, after which she then continued, "Just ask any agent for directions to the bridge."

Kaneki nodded his thanks in response, before he turned and walked over to the main door, the one Coulson had exited through, whilst Natasha continued on towards the two men still near the edge.

Upon entering the vessel, it took him a couple minutes, and several quick conversations with hurrying members of the crew, before he was able to find his way to the bridge, with no one, neither the armed agents, or soldiers stopping him on his way, though that was likely because they had been debriefed on the new arrivals.

Eventually however he did make it to the bridge, and when he did, he was genuinely amazed by the size of the room and the technology that had gone into creating it, suffice to say it was pretty impressive, and something Kaneki had never seen before.

Upon entering the room, Kaneki quickly locked onto the figures of Fury and another pretty, dark haired woman, both of whom were in the centre of the room barking out orders left and right to the many crew members on the dozen or so computers around the side, obviously mobilising them as the aircraft carrier slowly began to lift out of the water, revealing four large turbines that had previously been hidden beneath the waves, all of which began turning as the ship, became an airship, and started to lift off and rapidly ascend into the sky.

As for Kaneki, whilst all this was happening he was just stood uselessly in the middle, gawping like a tourist as he watched all this happen with quiet shock, he hadn't realised technology had advanced this far.

Furthermore as he stood in the centre of the control room his enhanced hearing, allowed him to listen in on some of the conversation going on around him, including how some of the agents in the room were trying to find Loki and this 'Tesseract' thing, by sweeping every camera on the planet?

Kaneki shook his head at this, his own world had nothing like this. Thinking on it now, it was little wonder he had been discovered, especially when not being careful, he was just lucky they hadn't connected him to all the things he had done during his two years here. Though seeing just what information they had access to, made him more than aware of how careful he would have to be in the future, after all if the 'good guys?' had access to technology like this then did that mean the bad guys did too?

A few minutes later Kaneki was momentarily distracted from his thoughts when Banner and Rogers soon entered the room, accompanied by Natasha, both of whom walked over to where Fury and the dark haired woman, Maria Hill, were stood. The four of them talking for a few minutes, and money exchanging hands between Fury and Rogers for some reason, after which Fury broke off from the group, and instead stepped over to where Kaneki was now silently, and thoughtfully staring out of the window, allowing the others to talk, whilst he just waited for Fury to tell him what he actually wanted.

"You know, you don't need to wear that mask in here, we are your allies," Fury said carefully as he walked over to Kaneki, stopping next to him as he did so and looking out of the window too, the dark skinned man still wearing his black, leather trench coat and black jumper, the same outfit he had been wearing the last time Kaneki had met him.

Kaneki's one visible eye narrowed as he heard that, before he shrugged and pulled the buff down, revealing his pale face, though he didn't pull down his hood or take his eyepatch off, bright white hair and a black eyepatch on a pale face did stand out after all.

"But will you always be?" Kaneki asked quietly, turning away from the view as the airship continued to ascend through the clouds, his grey eye now locking onto Director Fury.

"I would like to think so. So long as you do not kill any innocent humans, then yes, we will leave you be. We will never support you, but we won't stop you." Fury said, choosing his words carefully so as to not alienate Kaneki, yet also not give him the impression that SHIELD supported his lifestyle. On top of that he didn't want to limit him in regards to fulfilling his duties, after all Kaneki was more than welcome to kill SHIELD's enemies, and eat them too if he really wanted to, but Fury could not allow him to prey on innocent members of public.

There was a fine line that Fury had to step when dealing with a superpowered cannibal, and if it came down to it, he wouldn't hesitate to cut Kaneki loose if he became a liability, or if the public became aware of his nature, which would then reflect badly on SHIELD, and the organisation was far more important than any single person.

Ken said nothing to that.

"Kaneki, just remember that these people are going to be your teammates for the duration of the mission, not your enemies. There is no point in trying to maintain this facade of apathy, you have people here who could become good comrades if you would allow them to." Fury continued, seemingly softening his previous words now, whilst also trying to cement Kaneki's compliance by encouraging bonds. Not that that was the only reason, as he also genuinely believed that it would be better for team dynamics too.

"How do you know it's a facade?" Kaneki replied dryly, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Because I know you care about people. You can pretend otherwise to others and to yourself, but I know the truth. You would have tried to kill us the moment we confronted you if you did, and would have openly preyed on living people, but instead made a peaceful agreement with SHIELD, and mainly go out of your way to search for those already dead, who didn't care about their own lives and who didn't have anyone to care for them." Fury replied brusquely, his tone low, but sincere as he once again met Kaneki's placid gaze. "Now, I in no way agree with your actions, and do not take this as approval, but I do appreciate the efforts you have gone to in order to hurt the fewest people possible. That alone tells me you care more than you let on."

"It only indicates that I care when it comes to my own selfish desires, it shows pragmatism more than anything else." Kaneki replied, his voice still tinged with amusement.

Fury nodded at that, however before he could respond, one of the agents sitting at the computers called out to him, getting Fury's full and undivided attention as he did so.

"We got a hit sir! 67% match! Wait, cross-match, 79%. The location is in Stuttgart, Germany," The agent said loudly, looking to Fury now, even as the other agents in the room looked over.

"He's not exactly hiding," One of the other agents in the room muttered as he flicked over to the image the other agent had found.

"Captain! Kaneki! Romanov! You're up!" Fury shouted as he turned and walked back to his spot in the centre of the bridge, his gaze flicking over to the three people he mentioned.

With Steve and Natasha nodding before they immediately turned to leave, Steve following Coulson out of the room as the man no doubt took him to wherever his shield and uniform were waiting.

"Oh, and Kaneki, we have a spare uniform that might suit you a bit better too. It was modified slightly based on your noted preferred style of casual wear," Fury added on, his gaze back on Kaneki as he made to follow the others, with the dark skinned man gesturing for another agent to lead Kaneki to where ever this 'uniform' was.

Following after the random agent that Fury had gestured to, Kaneki soon found himself eyeing up a black outfit similar to the ones the agents on the airship had been wearing, only this one was a bit looser in the top half and had a hood attached to it. Furthermore, there were some thin white lines on the side and front, probably to distinguish him from the actual SHIELD agents.

Reaching over Kaneki noticed it was very similar to the outfit that Natasha had been wearing, only built for a male. Reaching out and feeling the outfit's material, he realised that it wasn't leather. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was actually much more flexible than leather, yet just as difficult to tear though, if not even more durable.

Looking at the suit, Kaneki did notice one issue with it, and that was the fact that if he had to release his kagune, then it would shred the back of the suit. Of course, it would do that for pretty much anything he wore unless it had specifically designed slits in it for just that purpose.

Kaneki frowned at that thought, ripping up the suit seemed like a shame, especially on such a good uniform. Maybe after this mission he would ask for a modification.

With that thought in mind, Kaneki pulled the uniform, stretching this way and that, testing the flexibility as he did, after which he then frowned again when he saw a selection of guns were also in the same locker his suit had been in as well.

Picking up the pistol Kaneki eyed it, even as he felt the cold metal in his hand, and tested the weight of the weapon, with it actually weighing more than he thought it would. He wasn't necessarily against using one, but he never had before and this probably wasn't the time to start learning, with that thought in mind he put it back in the locker, after which he began to rootle though the rest of the equipment in the locker.

After going through the rest of the things in the locker and deciding he didn't recognise any of the tools or know how to use them, he threw his hands up in the air in resignation, and gave up on taking anything more than a pair of six inch combat knives, and some kind of communication ear piece, after which he walked out of the room, heading for the quinjet he was supposed to be taking to get to Stuttgart, where he would face of with this Loki character..

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Also for those that noted I have retooled a few of the personalities slightly, not excessively, but to take account of bits and pieces of their backstory that I feel wasn't properly dealt with. Captain America for example, he adapts very quickly to living in the 21** **st** **century, despite the fact that he was educated in the 1920s, and was fighting in a war, which had a lot of propaganda floating around, and had led to the people having different views of the roles of people, based on gender, race etc. I won't be going too heavily into this, and won't be making him racist or anything, but he will have dated views, I am not going to laugh it off with a few jokes and then ignore it like they did in the MCU. Still this story won't be too heavy in regards to that.**

 **The same will be said for Banner, and a couple of others, who although not bad characters come across a little vanilla and hollow, or at least to me they do.**

 **But yeah, anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and continue to read and review.**

 **Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So the reception for this story seems to be improving, and it has now broach over a hundred favourites, so thanks for that, I really do appreciate all of your support, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy, and review.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Avenger, or Marvel etc.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Picking up the pistol Kaneki eyed it, even as he felt the cold metal in his hand, and tested the weight of the weapon, with it actually weighing more than he thought it would. He wasn't necessarily against using one, but he never had before and this probably wasn't the time to start learning, with that thought in mind he put it back in the locker, after which he began to rootle though the rest of the equipment in the locker._

 _After going through the rest of the things in the locker and deciding he didn't recognise any of the tools or know how to use them, he threw his hands up in the air in resignation, and gave up on taking anything more than a pair of six inch combat knives, and some kind of communication ear piece, after which he walked out of the room, heading for the quinjet he was supposed to be taking to get to Stuttgart, where he would face of with this Loki character._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 3**

 **( - )**

 **(With Kaneki, in the Quinjet)**

Sitting tensely in his seat on the quinjet, Kaneki could feel every jolt and bump of turbulence as the high-tech jet rocketed through the air, travelling far faster than Kaneki had ever gone before, far faster than he thought was possible for an aircraft. With the journey lasting about an hour from SHIELD's flying Helicarrier to Stuttgart in Germany.

With the pilot, Natasha, having pushed the vehicle as to the absolute limits, after all they were on a time limit. Loki, who apparently belonged to an alien race called the Asgardians, had been spotted out in the open, in Stuttgart, over an hour ago. Though why he was there, or why he had obviously chosen to reveal himself at all, or how long he would remain in the small German town, was all unknown, hence the haste.

Already this whole situation just screamed trap, there were far too many variables, and far too many things that could go wrong with this quick trip over to Germany to capture a powerful alien. Despite that though, they were forging on.

In fact even Kaneki, who was not a trained secret agent could see that a lot could go wrong with this 'plan' of theirs. Still this was the first opportunity or sighting that SHIELD had had of Loki thus far, and considering the alien was walking around with a literal weapon of mass destruction, Kaneki wasn't all that surprised that they had jump on the first opportunity they could to track him down and capture the villain. After all who knew what death, destruction or chaos this Loki character could unleash if he were minded too.

Yet even so, despite the swiftness of their response, they were almost too late as by the time they were flying over the town, Kaneki, Natasha and Steve could all see that Loki was armed, and out in the open, and surrounded by a large crowd of seemingly innocent civilians.

With the alien having cast of his mortal costume of a simple black suit and overcoat, with him instead wielding an ornate golden spear/ sceptre with a glowing blue orb in the end, in one hand. Whilst also wearing an elegant outfit of green leather with gold embellishments and bracers, and a matching green cloak, and some stupid golden, horned helmet as well.

Upon seeing their target so exposed Natasha angled the quinjet down, sliding through the dark, cloudy skies, even as the Asgardian forced those around him to kneel, which almost all of them did, save one very brave, yet very stupid old man who instead chose to defiantly stand.

An action that Loki obviously didn't appreciate as he lowered his spear, as if he were about to strike the man down from over a dozen feet away, which was possible given the 'God' supposedly had extra-terrestrial powers and was wielding some glowing blue sceptre.

Watching all of this, even as the quinjet continued to descend, Steve was the first one to act, as the super soldier, now resplendent in a full body combat suit, coloured red, white and blue, with a large star in the centre of his chest, leapt into action. Jumping the last twenty feet to the earth, his round, red, white and blue, metal shield in hand as he slammed into the ground just in front of the old man, his shield up and at the ready as he did so.

Which turned out to be a pretty sensible action, because Loki by that point had already unleashed a blast of pure energy from his sceptre, a blast that Steve's shield somehow reflected back at the Asgardian, even as the crowd around the duo all screamed and began scrambling away in terror.

Seeing this, Kaneki soon followed the American's actions, as he leapt down from the still flying quinjet and landed soundlessly on the ground some distance away from where Loki and Steve were facing off, even as Natasha wheeled the jet around, its weaponry primed and ready to be used.

Not that Kaneki noticed as the Ghoul instead landed silently on the ground a dozen or so feet away from Steve, his own entrance far quieter, and much subtler than Captain America's own, as Kaneki stood up, his head tilting to the side as he eyed the dark haired, pale skinned Loki up and down, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled the Asgardian's unfamiliar, yet delectable scent.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing," Captain America quipped a few moments later as he began walking forward with confidence, and a bit of swagger in his step, his shield lowered, but still at the ready.

Kaneki sent Steve a dry look as he heard that, but said nothing more as he began to encircle Loki, his gaze fixed on the powerful alien, taking in the unsurprised, and in fact amused expression on his face as he did so. Something which once again made Kaneki suspect that something was not right here, and that Loki had been expecting them.

"The soldier," Loki said coldly, his lip curling down for a moment, before his face then twisted into a smirk, "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve replied back at him, lowering his shield now as he stared Loki down.

Kaneki however ignored the quips, he really had no time for that nonsense, no instead he was more concerned with sniffing the air, and taking in the alien's scent. It was extraordinarily foreign, and delectable, so different from anything else he had smelt before, already he could feel his mouth watering. It smelled... cold, if that was even a smell, but it was like smelling ice. It tickled the nose with a subtle flavour and a chilly atmosphere, yet was strong enough to reach him. On top of that there was a depth to it, an inherent power in it that went far beyond a human's scent, beyond even that of a Ghoul. All of which made it far more tantalizing than even the mouth-watering taste of human, though that might just be because it was something new, something he desperately wanted to sample.

He had already been briefed on the fact that Loki was an alien, but only now whilst in the man's presence did he realise just how alien the man truly was.

Suffice to say he was now really curious about what the man would taste like. He could probably get away with a couple bites couldn't he, just a nibble, or maybe a leg if he could get away with it? Loki didn't need those did he? Not when he was about to be captured and imprisoned.

Kaneki abruptly shook those thoughts off the moment they went through his mind, that was the more primal version of himself speaking, the one who acted on sheer instinct and hunger. That wasn't a person he wanted to become, after all that version of himself had no self-control.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha ordered firmly, her voice being loudly projected from speakers on the quinjet, even as a large Gatling gun below the cockpit began to spin, warming up to unleash hell on the alien if he resisted.

Despite the implied threat though, Loki's response was to just chuckle, after which he then thrust his sceptre in her direction and unleashed another powerful jet of blue energy at the quinjet, which caused Natasha to veer off, the quinjet swerving away to avoid the blast.

With Steve responding to the attack too, by throwing his shield at the alien, the spinning disk hitting him in his helmet head and stopping his attack, which led to Steve gaining the Asgardian's attention as he did so.

Turning his head as the Captain's shield bounced off his helmet, Loki's face twisted into a snarl, however before he could say anything Steve caught the shield as it bounced off of Loki, before he dived straight into combat with the man, using his shield to counteract Loki's sceptre as the alien attempted to send another blast of blue energy at him, after which he rushed the 'God' again.

For the next few moments the two engaged in a rapid exchange of jabs and punches, the two of them dancing around one another, until Loki managed to get his sceptre around the shield and hit the Captain in the chest with a blast of energy, an action that sent him hurtling across the courtyard, with him bouncing several times on the stone slabs before he came to a stop hunched over and holding his chest with his spare hand.

Seeing this Kaneki darted forwards, moving far faster than any human had a right too, as he crossed the span of around twelve feet in moments, after which he then leapt onto Loki's back, pulling down his half mask as he did so. One of his pale hands gripping the Asgardian's shoulder, whilst the other grabbed one of the golden horns on Loki's ridiculous helmet, ignoring the aliens outraged shout as he did so.

Which he then proceeded to tear off of the man, before he sent it flying to the floor half a dozen feet away with a clatter, with Kaneki's grip on the man becoming tighter after that, as Loki started trying to throw the smaller, slighter Kaneki off of his back.

Something he eventually succeeded in doing as he swung his body around and threw Kaneki bodily away from him, though not before the Ghoul's sharp nails and strong hands had gouged his face, the black nails having split the flesh along the right side of Loki's face, drawing blood, but causing far less damage than Kaneki would have done if the man were human. After all if the Asgardian weren't so strong and durable, then Kaneki would have likely just ripped half of his face off, and scratched the bone of his skull as oppose to just marking his face.

Rolling as he hit the floor, Kaneki was on his feet again in moments, his single visible grey eye narrowing as he licked the crimson blood off of his hand, a sudden cold surge of energy, almost like a sudden shot of adrenaline flowing through him.

In response to this Loki snarled in pain, one of hands moving to his injured face, even as the other thrust out his sceptre, the gem at the bladed end glowing blue as he prepared to unleash another energy blast, only this time at Kaneki.

Before Loki could attack however he was forced to move to one side, his sceptre redirected as he instead used it to block Steve's shield as the American super solider threw it at him, the vibranium disk whistling through the air as it shot towards the now angry Asgardian.

The however shield was knocked away by Loki, the dark haired man's aristocratic features twisting into a snarl as he sent the metal shield clattering over to where the crouched Kaneki was, even as Steve charged Loki again, his teeth gritted as he once again engaged the 'God' in close combat, though this time the Captain was without his weapon of choice. Which showed as he was quickly put on the defensive, blocking Loki's rapid and vicious attacks as he did so.

Kaneki upon seeing this grabbed the shield and threw it at Loki. His throw containing power, but aim being a bit off, as the shield only glanced the distracted Loki in the leg before it bounced off. Despite that though it still distracted Loki long enough for Steve to grab the shield from the air, mid bounce, before he used the momentum to bring it around the try and shield bash Loki in the face once more.

The self-proclaimed God however proved himself to be faster as he kicked out with his foot, landing a blow in the Captain's stomach, after which he then swung out with his sceptre and used it to knock Steve's feet out from under him, sending the man down to his knees before he had a chance to do anything else.

Kaneki scowled as he saw this, with him dashing forwards in response to attack Loki from behind, once again moving preternaturally fast as he decided to rely on his enhanced physical abilities for now, as oppose to pulling out his kagune straight away, after all who knew when you would need a trump card, and this Loki seemed like a pretty canny guy, someone who would always have a few tricks up his sleeve.

Oblivious to Kaneki's actions, Loki merely smirked as he held the point of the sceptre to the super soldier's chest, the tip once again glowing. However before he could say or do anything, Kaneki crashed into him from the side, one of his hands gripping Loki's right wrist halting the spear, whilst the other grabbed the back of Loki's coat, even as Kaneki's feet slammed full force into the man's side, a blow which would have broken a normal human's spine and ribcage, but for Loki it only winded him, with it also likely causing a bit of bruising.

Kaneki however didn't care about this as he instead pulled himself towards the Asgardian, his blood burning in his veins and his heart beating faster as the taste of the Asgardian's blood was still on his lips.

Loki though in response to this assault, didn't just stand there and take it, as he instead grabbed Kaneki with his free hand and tried to quickly throw him off, Loki once again surprising Kaneki as he proved himself to actually be stronger than Kaneki himself was. Which is why after a few moments Loki was able to dislodge Kaneki and send him dancing backwards.

Not that Kaneki cared that much, after all he had already gotten his prize, he had already gotten a taste of the man. Grinning broadly at that, most of the man's ear rolled around in the Ghoul's mouth, even as Loki held a shaking hand up to the side of his head, stemming the blood streaming down it, a look of fury and shock on his face as he glared at Kaneki.

In response to which Kaneki chewed once, twice, and then swallowed the 'God's' flesh, once again feeling that icy, cold surge of power and adrenaline flowing through him, the Kakuhou on the small of his back throbbing as he did so, the organ unique to Ghouls, flaring up and almost causing Kaneki to subconsciously release his kagune, though he managed to quickly bring it under control as he instead locked gazes with Loki, licking the blood off of his lips as he did so, the air leaving his mouth misting slightly.

"How dare you!" Loki roared as he brought his hand away from his face and saw the blood staining it, after which he sent another blast of blue energy at Kaneki, who in response merely shifted to the side, easily avoiding it, even as he crouched lower about to release his kagune, his breath still misting in front of him and the ground at his feet frosting over slightly, ice crystals spreading from his hands and feet, and slowly, imperceptibly covering the stone slabs below him.

Before Kaneki could leap into action though, or Loki lash out with another, stronger attack, they were thrown by surprise, as loud rock music suddenly began to blast out across the area, even as a golden blast knocked Loki off his feet.

Looking up Kaneki's gaze soon landed on the source of the commotion, an armoured robot like form that flew down from the sky, using jets of fire from boosters in its hands and feet to control its flight as it did so, before it then began to hover, even as the quinjet returned to its former positon, its gun once again trained on the downed Loki.

Rolling his eyes at this, Kaneki stood up straighter, relaxing slightly as he quashed the sudden murderous urge he had just had, in which he had wanted to bull rush Loki and rip his head off, after which he would have feasted on the remains. Yeah, with this place being so public, and with Fury's orders being to bring the alien in, Kaneki was pretty confident the Director wouldn't have liked that idea, and that it would have come back to bite the Ghoul in the arse.

Before Kaneki could think any more on this, Iron Man, better known as Tony Stark, landed in the middle of the square, resplendent in his red and gold armour, both his hands raised pointed at Loki, both of the palms glowing golden, a clear sign he was prepared to unleash another blast at Loki if he had too.

"Make a move, Reindeer games," Stark said, his voice coming out distinctly robotic, but still amused as he did so, the eyes of his metal helmet glowing as he looked over at the scowling Loki.

Kaneki couldn't help but roll his eyes as one of his teammates made yet another quip, like seriously was this all some joke to them, did they have no sense of propriety or seriousness.

Shaking his head at that, Kaneki licked the last of Loki's blood off of his hands, once again feeling the astonishingly cold sensation throughout his body as he did so. In fact, it felt like the inside of his mouth was freezing slightly, but by rubbing his tongue over his lips to get the last of the blood, the sensation faded.

As for Loki, well in response to the three 'superheroes' now gathered around him, and the hovering military jet, he looked carefully around at all of them before raising his hands in surrender, his armour fading off of him and his black suit and coat once again reappearing.

"Good move," Tony said, lowering his own hands, as he did so, even as Steve Rogers went to grab Loki and place him under arrest.

Kaneki however just shot Stark a sideways look, before frowning at Loki, with him unlike the others not lowering his guard. After all if this guy could materialize his armour and weapons at will, like he had shown himself capable of, then he was always armed, and therefore always dangerous, just like a Ghoul. Plus he was also an alien, so who knew what other funky abilities or traits he might have.

"Mr. Stark," Steve spoke up as he hauled Loki to his feet, handcuffing the 'God' as he did so, the blonde super soldier sending Stark a friendly nod, glad that one of the more normal and familiar members of his team had arrived, even if he were late. After all Steve had known Tony's father, Howard quite well, and although he wouldn't say they were friends, he would say they were at least good acquaintances.

"Captain. Hannibal." Stark responded cheerily, the facial portion of his red and gold helmet flipping up, and revealing his grinning face as he greeted them both.

Ken nodded blithely in response, once again not giving Stark the reaction he was hoping for, as he instead focused on how his mouth and Kakuhou was still tingling, his body still surging with that cold rush of energy that came from eating the Asgardian's flesh, a rush that was beyond that which he got from eating human flesh, or even the time he had eaten Ghoul flesh.

Incidentally he wondered whether the feeling he had now, was at all similar to the rush Touka, another acquaintance of his from back in his old world/ reality, had experienced after he had allowed her to eat some of him. However, despite the energy that filled his system, he also found that his head was hurting slightly, a feeling he recognised as brain freeze.

"Alright, lets load him up," Stark said, grabbing the now handcuffed Loki as he did, after which he began pulling him towards the lowered quinjet ramp, the jet having landed in the intervening time between Stark's arrival and Loki's capture.

Nodding curtly at that, Kaneki following both Stark and Rogers lead as he boarded the quinjet after them, making to sit down as well, after which he then held his head in his hands, rubbing circles on his temple as he attempted to relieve his growing headache.

"Hey, are you alright?" Steve asked, looking over to Kaneki as the two of them sat down in the quinjet, opposite to Stark and Loki.

"Yeah, just a bit of brain freeze," Kaneki replied blandly, feeling better as he did, his Ghoulish healing factor now beginning to make more progress, as the cold sensation in his stomach faded, and the rush of icy energy began to fade.

"How'd you get brain freeze?" Steve asked, bewildered, he hadn't seen the other man eating an ice cream or snow cone, or drinking anything cold, like one of those slushpuppy things.

Kaneki shrugged in response to that, before he then gestured at the now one eared Loki, who was looking at him now with a strange mixture of fascination and hatred, even as the blood, which still streaming from his now missing ear, plastered his long black hair to one side of his face, the wound slowly but surely healing over. The Asgardian's increased physical capabilities also apparently extending to an enhanced healing factor, though one which was nowhere near on the same level of Kaneki's own, after all by the looks of it Loki wouldn't be regenerating a new ear.

Stark let out a rough laugh at that.

"Ha! Did he really take a chunk out of you, Loki?" Tony then asked with glee, uncaring of subtlety or decorum as he just laughed in the scowling Loki's face.

In response to which Loki's lips twisted into a mild snarl as he glared at Stark, but the thin layer of blood coming from his missing ear was still clearly visible. With Kaneki having taken the entire thing, ripping it clean off with his teeth.

For Kaneki though, he could only think of how it was just a shame he had only got that much, as oppose to a nice cut of meat, like a chunk of flesh from the shoulder or neck. Though that being said, Kaneki was beginning to wonder if it would have even been safe to do so.

Sure, Loki tasted good and gave him a rush of energy, but if he had gotten brain freeze from just an ear, what would his reaction have been to a larger chunk? Absentmindedly, Kaneki cracked one of his fingers at the thought of that.

With him then flinching as he felt the sharp sting of pain, after which he then looked down as he did so, even as he realised what he had just done. He hadn't cracked his finger like that in over a year, it was a subconscious thing he did when he was beginning to lose control, when his hunger for blood and flesh began to take hold.

His blood was boiling, and he had only been in a small fight, but even so, the old anger and fire was sparking to life in his gut, and already he thought he could faintly hear a certain woman laughing in his mind.

When was the last time he had properly eaten? It had only been a couple of nights ago right? Yet even so he still felt hungry, he still felt the desire to hunt, to kill and to gorge himself till he couldn't eat anymore.

He forced it down though, he was not Rize; he was not the Binge Eater who gorged herself practically every week, sometimes every day. His headache seemed to intensify at that thought, though by this point he was sure it was more mental than physical, as his head began to throb and his stomach started growling, hungrily demanding more sustenance, despite the fact that it was already well-fed.

It was as Kaneki was thinking this that a familiar, beautiful looking woman sat down next to Loki, her purple hair draping peacefully over her shoulder, and her loving eyes, with their black sclera and crimson irises, resting on his face. One of the exquisite woman's hands rising up, before it then gently caressed his cheek.

" _Oh Kaneki, could you just imagine how much power you would have after eating him? Sure, he might be cold, but the cold won't kill you, you know that already,_ " Rize purred lightly, shifting as she did so before she then stood up and moved to sit next to Kaneki, one leg crossed sensually over the other as she shifted closer to him, her lips almost touching his ear.

Not that Kaneki gave her the satisfaction of reacting, she was a figment of his imagination, a creation of his psyche, nothing more.

 _"Or what about one of the others? The other Avengers? I bet you could get a real rush from Stevie, he might be a bit muscly, and maybe a little gamey, but you know that wouldn't bother you. Mm, I can just imagine the delectable sensation of his flesh sliding down out throat, you can too right? Or maybe even Natasha, she looks positively exquisite, I know you are just waiting to feast on her sweet, sweet flesh…?"_ Rize continued to purr, her voice soft and sweet like warm honey, even as she gently traced one of her hands down Kaneki's shoulder, after which she leant into him again, her breath ghosting over the flesh of his neck, causing goosebumps to appear. _"Come on, Kaneki, I thought you had accepted me, accepted yourself…."_

' _I have, but I will not kill, or hunt those that don't deserve it. I have a code, one which I live by, one which keeps me safe, and keeps me sane._ ' Kaneki thought back, his mouth firming up as he did.

 _"Oh, you think you're sane, oh you do amuse me, my sweet Kaneki? But really do you think any of these Avengers don't deserve death, we have a self-righteous solider boy, a trained killer and murderess, an egotistical megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur and finally the monster, and you know I'm not talking about that little Hulk…"_ Rize replied, waltzing around the cockpit as she did so, tracing her hand down Steve's face, before she looked back at Kaneki. _"Do you really think any of them deserve your mercy, don't you realise they will all turn their backs on you? They don't understand you Kaneki, none of them do, they are all so human, so stuck in their predictable, petty mind-sets, they don't yet realise that you are the apex predator, a perfect killer, a true monster. But they will eventually, and when they do, they will turn on you, you know this."_

Kaneki scowled at that, more about the fact that he couldn't deny her words, as oppose to what she was actually saying. After all Stark joked about Ken being a cannibal, and Steve had heard, but neither seemed to really grasp it or believe it, as if he just thought it was a silly rumour, or a bad joke. As for Natasha, well she was completely unreadable, but it wasn't hard to imagine the disgust and fear she must have for him.

Furthermore, no one on this world had seen him fight properly, or at least not beyond his sparring matches down at a local gym, and occasional cage fight. They hadn't seen how he was willing to tear someone apart, willing to rip and rend flesh, with both his hands and teeth.

Something in him had been broken by his torture, he knew, because he also knew that he would be perfectly willing to rip apart opponents, given the opportunity. And yet, he couldn't quite bring himself to care about the change. He was a Ghoul, and that was the way it was. And perhaps worst of all, he actually liked being a Ghoul, he preferred it to the mind-numbing normalcy and monotony of being human.

It was as Kaneki was lingering on these thoughts that a sudden crashing sound jolted him out of his thoughts as the quinjet shuddered from an impact of something large and heavy hitting the roof.

Kaneki blinked as he felt that, flipping down his hood as he did so, after which he then pulled off his eyepatch, his grey eyes instead shifting up to the roof of the jet. That hadn't felt like just turbulence, no, it felt like something, or someone had somehow just landed on the jet, despite it being over four thousand metres in the air, and whizzing along at phenomenal speeds.

Shifting his gaze over to the cockpit as he heard sudden thumping on the roof of the jet, something which sounded suspiciously like footsteps.

Looking forward, Kaneki could see that at some point, both Tony and Steve had gotten up from their seats and moved over to the front of the aircraft, where Natasha was still flying the jet.

The handcuffed Loki however had remained seated where he had been before, a contemplative look on his face as he observed Ken with a calculating gaze. Though as Kaneki met his eyes with his own, he was able to observe a hint of resignation and nervousness hidden within the depths of the 'Gods' eyes, and he suspected that it wasn't duo to him being in the custody of the Avengers.

A moment later though, Kaneki's curiousity as to what had just landed on the quinjet, and what had Loki so worried vanished, as the back of the quinjet was ripped open, and another man stepped in, this one being a broad shouldered, blonde haired, blue eyed behemoth, who wearing a long, flowing red cloak and carrying a massive hammer. Wit the man in question grabbing Loki by the scruff of his neck the moment he entered, after which he then stepped out of the flying aircraft, falling to the ground, his red cloak whipping around him, dragging Loki after him as he did so.

"And now there's that guy," Tony said with a groan as he like the others had twisted around and had seen the sudden intrusion, with the billionaire lowering the faceplate of his helmet as he did so.

"A friendly?" Steve asked as he grabbed his shield tighter.

"Doesn't matter. Whether he frees or kills Loki, we lose the Tesseract," Tony replied, after which he then stepped over to the edge of the jet.

With Steve's eyes widening as he realised what Tony was just about to do. "Stark stop! We need a plan of attack!"

"I have a plan. Attack," Tony said before he leapt out of the aircraft, the booster jets in his hands and feet igniting as he did so, even as he instantly started pursuing the blonde, hammer wielding intruder.

Steve cursed at what he saw as Stark's impetuousness, after which he then grabbed a parachute and followed suit. A bit hypocritical really, or at least Kaneki thought so, even as he silently stood up, his previous conversation with the figment of his imagination, that was Rize, forgotten as he stood at the edge of the now torn open bay of the quinjet, wondering as he did, about whether or not he should bother with a parachute.

In the end though, he decided not to risk it and grabbed one.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. These guys are way above your level, they're practically gods," Natasha said from where she was still flying the quinjet, even as she saw Ken pull on the parachute. With him pulling a little on the tab, obviously not quite sure how to use it. Not that it bothered him too unduly, he would figure it out. Probably.

"I just see men, men who think themselves gods," Kaneki replied quietly, before he leapt out of the quinjet so as to follow the other two.

 **( - )**

Flying through the air, the cold wind rushing around him, Kaneki was able to see the controlled flight of Iron Man through the darkness, with the man in question having already made into the forested area below, where he was now confronting the hammer wielding intruder.

Noting this, and the flashes of Stark's high tech weaponry, Kaneki quickly angle himself towards that, aiming for the clearing where even now he could see Stark attacking the blonde man, who in turn was lashing out with lightning and his hammer.

Further below him, Kaneki could also see Steve's parachute already hitting the trees a little ways away from the flashes of golden light as Stark and his opponent continued to duke it out.

Upon spotting most of the players, Kaneki's face scrunched up into a frown as he couldn't help but wonder, where was Loki was?

Shaking that thought off for a moment, Kaneki instead focused on the here and now, as he pulled the tabs of his parachute as he thought he was now at a good height. Though that turned out to be a mistake, as he ended up being a bit too low for the parachute to properly work, and as such he ended up hitting the ground in a wooded grove below, the bones in his legs snapping as he did so.

In response to his crash landing though, Kaneki rolled forward to avoid more injuries, unclipping the parachute as he did, the pain from his broken legs little more than a temporary inconvenience, after all he had felt much, much worse.

"Well, I must say, that was a terrible landing," A dry, sarcastic voice drawled from a few feet away, attracting Kaneki's attention to the source as it did so.

Only for Kaneki's gaze to lock onto the speaker, Loki, the now one eared man looking down at him with an eyebrow raised, and expression of cruel amusement on his face as he took in the white haired man's crippled condition.

In response Kaneki frowned slightly, after which he then lifted both his broken legs into the air, with them both twisting around grotesquely, bones scraping as his immense, regenerative, healing factor kicked in, until they were straight once more, and healed up as good as new. After which he then leaped up off of the ground in a single casual movement, until he was standing up facing Loki, his white hair clearly visible in the darkened clearing.

"I don't need to be good at landings," Kaneki replied placidly.

"I can tell," Loki replied sarcastically, looking him over in interest. "If I may ask, just what are you? You're clearly not human, no human could have hurt me the way you did."

Kaneki paused as he heard that, but otherwise kept silent, choosing to ignore the question.

"Come on, we're heading over to the others. If you try to escape, I will… restrain you," Kaneki replied calmly.

Loki instead of being offended by the threat, instead looked amused, as if Ken was saying something funny, but instead of commenting on it he simply gestured over in the direction of the nearby fighting instead. "Lead the way, my friend,"

Kaneki glanced at him at that, but said nothing, as he instead simply began walking out of the grove, and down the side of the hillock he and Loki were on, over to where the others were fighting down below.

Where the third man, the one Kaneki didn't know but suspected was Thor, was smacking Iron Man about. With him having an astonishingly strong scent, similar to Loki's in regards to the power it held, but also very different.

After all whereas Loki's was soft and cold, like say ice scream or something like that, Thor smelled warm and spicy, like strong curry or Mexican food. Of course that wasn't really what they smelt like, but it was the best comparison as to how different they were that he could think of.

Despite the differences though, it was still a more delectable scent than the average human, not that he thought either of them would willingly let him have a bite.

It was as he was thinking about this, that he wondered why these beings smelled edible to him, given that Ghouls had always had to eat humans to live. He couldn't eat cows or other animals, so what made the aliens different? Was it that they were humanoid, or that they had a similar genetic make up to humans?

"You want me to put the hammer down?!" Thor shouted, just as they approached the clearing. With Kaneki dropping down low when he saw the hammer strike the shield, his feet and hands digging into the ground as a wave of energy passed over him, ruffling his clothes and nearly knocking him backwards. Seriously, save for the Ghouls, there wasn't beings like this back in his old world.

Loki however in response to what had just happened, looked completely unaffected, which immediately made Ken wonder just how much of what the 'God of Mischief' said and did was an act.

Oblivious to their sudden arrivals, and with a chorus of groans, the three 'heroes' who had been closest to the epicentre of the blast, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, began to get up.

"So are we done here?" Steve asked in an exasperated tone, looking over at the other two as he did so.

"Yeah, yeah, we're done," Tony replied casually as he too stood up and nonchalantly walked through the partially destroyed clearing and over to where the others were.

With Thor looking between the two, after which he then looked over to where his brother was now standing at the edge of the clearing. With the blonde man not even glancing at Kaneki, the 'God' simply dismissing him out of hand, not considering the unassuming white haired man a threat as he instead analysed the situation before nodding.

"Alright Natasha, we're coming back up," Tony said out loud. With Ken assuming that it was being transmitted to her, as very soon after, the quinjet lowered itself towards the clearing, the back of it still torn open.

Upon noticing the jet arrival, Thor nodded at the other two, before he then grabbed Loki roughly and jumped into the back of the vehicle, nearly lowering the ship a few feet with a loud thud as he did so.

"You two flightless bird, grab on," Tony said as he smugly looked at the two of them, before offering them an arm.

In response to that Steve hesitated for a moment before he gripped Stark's shoulder tightly, while Kaneki hung off of Tony's back. With Iron Man then quickly ascending, before dropping into the back of the quinjet moments later.

 **( - )**

Following on from that, they all assembled in the back of quinjet as Natasha once again set off heading back to the Helicarrier. It was whilst they were there, that Thor, now in the light of the ship, finally noticed the drying blood which stained the side of Loki's face, and his missing ear.

"Who did that?" Thor asked bluntly, gesturing to Loki's wound as he did so. With it being impossible to tell if the 'God of Thunder' was upset or not, as from what Kaneki had seen the man was not in a good mood in general.

Loki, in response to this, just pointed at Ken, like a child pointing out their bully, to their older and tougher brother. With Thor looking over at Kaneki critically in response to this, the expression on the large man's face obvious as to what he thought of Kaneki, with his delicate features, placid grey eyes and slight build.

"How?" Thor asked, a slight frown on his face now as he looked back to Loki.

"He bit me," Loki said, his tone turning slightly indignant now.

Thor processed this slowly, but once he did, his eyes narrowed, even as he sent Kaneki both a confused, and an accusatory look. Obviously the 'God of Thunder' didn't approve of biting as a fighting tactic.

"But then, he should be dead," Thor finally said after a couple of moments.

"I know," Loki replied, grinning now.

Thor however once again looked at Kaneki carefully after that, after which he then took a seat across from Loki, so as to wait out the ride back to the Helicarrier.

"Dead?" Steve asked, into the silence that followed, not all that comfortable himself with the fact that Kaneki had bitten Loki's ear off. Not that either Thor or Loki bothered to respond to him.

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later)**

For the rest of their journey to the Hellicarrier it was quiet, with those present sitting in silence, though Stark did spend his time making the occasional jibe or quip as he tried to get a rise out of Loki or Thor, only to be met with stoic silence, or looks of disinterest. Kaneki meanwhile just sat upfront, staring out of the window with disinterest, lost in introspection as for the first time in a year Rize had reared her head from his psyche.

It was about two hours later that they arrived at the Helicarrier, after which, upon landing on the giant flying ship, several agents swiftly escorted the still handcuffed Loki off of the jet and took him to some holding cell where his injuries would be treated, and he would then be confined until Fury decided what to do with him.

As for the rest of the group, and Thor, they all headed for a briefing room to meet up with Bruce Banner, where they all had another very brief round of introductions, and a quick debrief of what had happened, more for Banner and Agent Hill's sake than their own. After which they all sat down and listened in on the exchange between Loki and Fury, who had already started his interrogation of the Asgardian.

With the dark-skinned Director having taken up a positon opposite Loki's prison, which was apparently some indestructible see through box, and which could be dropped ten thousand feet from the Helicarrier to earth at any moment.

Suffice to say each of those present glanced awkwardly at one another and then at Banner, when it was brought up that the cage was actually meant for Banner, and for when he lost control of the monster within. Fortunately though Banner showed himself to be a better person than most, when he just shrugged it off.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said, as Loki continued to taunt Fury, and make barely hidden jibes at the 'Avengers'.

"Loki's going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked, turning to the Asgardian, acting as if he had a clue what was actually happening. Or at least that was Kaneki cynically thought.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract," Thor explained briefly, his tone curt and to the point, the Asgardian sharing what was necessary, but obviously still a little leery, especially after the dust up they had all had just hours earlier.

"An army? From outer space?" Steve asked, trying to wrap his head around the idea. Of course, seventy years prior, it would have been a distant science fiction idea, not a legitimate possibility, in fact even back then it wouldn't have even been imagined that such a thing could happen.

As for Kaneki himself, he was also having a hard time processing it all. Alien Invasions? No one would have believed it back home. After all man eating Ghouls were one thing, but an army of extra-terrestrials invading earth that sounded a little too ludicrous. Which thinking about it now didn't really make sense, then again people's thoughts and beliefs often didn't make sense once someone dug into them.

"So he's building another portal, that's what he needs Erik Selvig for?" Banner muttered, thinking to himself as he did so.

"Selvig?" Thor asked sharply, looking up at Banner now.

"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.

"He's a friend," Thor countered bluntly, though once again he didn't expand on the statement.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha interjected into the conversation, looking around at all of them as she did.

"I want to know why Loki let us capture him," Kaneki added in, thinking as he did about how easily Loki had followed him, not using the brief chance he was alone and unguarded to escape. "He had the chance to escape when you guys were fighting, why didn't he? He's not leading anyone from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him," Bruce said carefully.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother," Thor retorted, his tone somewhat defensive now.

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha replied sceptically, raising an eyebrow as she did.

"He's adopted," Thor tagged on weakly.

"The point is that I think we should focus on the mechanics. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Banner cut in getting the conversation back on track now.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony's voice spoke up, cutting over them and echoing around the room, as he handed something to Coulson, who was also in the room, with a few words, before he continued speaking. "Which means the portal if he opens it again, won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD."

Tony glanced over at Thor as he walked into the centre of the room and attracted everyone's attention, a slight smirk on his face. "No hard feelings by the way Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He added on with a smirk at Thor, before continuing with his previous tangent, "Also, it means the portal he could create, could be much bigger than before, and could stay open as long as Loki wants."

Silence followed Tony's words as he finished, with the man himself using the sudden silence to step up to the main command spot for controlling the ship, one usually used by Fury, after which he began looking around. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."

Kaneki leaned forward slightly in his seat as he heard that, only to smile slightly when he noticed the agent Stark mentioned quickly click out of the game.

Tony meanwhile, was still messing about, as he covered one of his eyes with his hand and looked around at the many monitors. "How does Fury see these things?" He then asked, gesturing to the monitors on his blind side as he did so.

"He turns," Agent Hill replied dryly, an unimpressed expression on her face.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source. Something with a high energy density, which he can use kick start the cube," Tony explained, turning back to the table now, already bored with what he had been doing previously.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion as her eyes tracked the narcissistic engineer as he paced back to the table.

"Last night. The packet we were all sent, the one with Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asked in a mocking voice as he looked around, clearly aware that the others likely hadn't, either due to a lack of time, ability, or inclination.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked abruptly, getting the conversation back on track as he tried his best to help. Even if the only power sources he could currently think of was gas and coal.

"He needs to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner chipped in next, thinking audibly to himself as he did so.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect," Tony countered. Bruce blinked as he heard that, his eyebrows came together in a concerned look.

Kaneki meanwhile tilted his head in confusion, he was a pretty smart guy and very well educated, but he was no engineer, nor was he a scientist, and as such he had literally no idea what these two men were talking about, save for the fact that it had to do with a portal or some sort and the Tesseract.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce shot back at Stark.

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony said with a slight smirk, as he now fully faced Banner.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked quietly as Tony and Bruce shook hands.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Tony said immediately, both complimenting and insulting Banner in the same breath.

Kaneki blinked at that, there had to be something wrong with Stark if that was how he chose to greet someone he was meeting for the first time, that or he was just a massive arsehole.

"Uh, thanks," Bruce said awkwardly in response.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him," Director Fury cut in before any more could be said, the dark-skinned man striding into the room, his interrogation obviously finished, and a scowl on his face as his single visible eye flickered around at all of the occupants within, until he focused on Stark.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon," Steve spoke up, once again trying to contribute.

"I don't know about that, but it does look like it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his own personal flying monkeys," Fury said with a scowl.

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor said in confusion, the massive blonde looking around the room as he did so, clearly waiting for an explanation.

"I do!" Steve said, sitting up and grinning. Before he faltered for a moment under the glances of the others in the room, "I understood that reference."

Tony rolled his eyes at that.

"What I want to know is how you managed to survive biting Loki's ear off," Thor broke into the conversation again, though this time on a complete tangent as he turned to look at Kaneki, a serious expression on his face.

In response to which the Ghoul could only shrug, a disinterested expression on his face.

"I just had a nibble, what is so difficult about that?" Kaneki asked dryly, holding back the sudden gurgling in his stomach as he thought back on the snack. It was just a pity he didn't get a second helping.

Steve looked a little uncomfortable as he heard that, his blue eyes flickering over to Kaneki, though whether it was because he believed biting was an underhanded tactic in a fight, or because he remembered some of the other Avenger's previous slurs about cannibalism, was up for debate.

"Though Loki's body has been heavily influenced by the magic of my father and Asgard, he still has the blood of Frost Giants running in his veins and direct contact with it for a human should have frozen you solid!" Thor explained, his brow furrowed in confusion as he eyed Kaneki up and down.

Huh, maybe that was why he had had brain freeze earlier?

"I have a strong healing factor," Kaneki replied after a few moments, thinking on what abilities he had already shown, before shrugging it off, after all Loki had already witnessed his healing factor, so it probably didn't matter that his allies knew about it too. "Maybe that's why?"

That being said he wasn't going to explain that healing didn't help much when you were frozen, it would just keep you alive. He also wasn't going to explain that he wasn't quite human, and that his ghoulish constitution was probably why he hadn't been frozen solid, and had instead gained a rush of energy and adrenaline from his snack. That would be too much sharing for his tastes.

Thor gave him a sceptical look at that, along with Fury and Natasha, all of whom did not looked convinced by his dismissive explanation.

That being said Steve seemed to accept the explanation for what it was, whilst Banner just shrugged, probably knowing that it didn't make sense, but not caring either way, everyone was entitled to their secrets after all.

Stark however, ever the loudmouth spoke up in response. "Bullshit, an advanced healing factor doesn't work like that."

Kaneki gave him a bland look at that, before he then shrugged again.

"Well, I don't have any other explanation," Kaneki sighed quietly.

Tony examined Kaneki carefully as he heard that, looking thoughtful for a moment, before he suddenly turned to Bruce and smiled.

"Well whatever. Hey Banner, want to go play?" He then asked, startling Banner as he did so, with yet another sudden change in conversation.

"A-alright," Banner replied hesitantly, after which he began to follow Tony out of the room, and over to the lab.

With the rest of the group all looking at each other, before slowly the rest of them broke away. Until just Kaneki and Thor were left, both of them not talking or really even looking at each other as they just sat at the table in silent contemplation. The two of them, and one other person of course. A beautiful girl with long purple hair, who was standing just behind Thor, her long, pale slender hands running across his body, testing his muscles, a smirk on her face as she stared at Kaneki.

 _"Hm, not as tender as I would like,"_ Rize drawled, running one of her hands over the Asgardian's muscular shoulders _, "but definitely a new and unique flavour. I think it's worth trying, don't you?"_ She asked, looking over at Kaneki again as she did so through half lidded eyes.

In response however, Kaneki just ignored her. He did not need hunger hallucinations right now, especially not on a ship full of humans, a veritable flying buffet.

Besides why was he even having them? He had recently eaten, yet his stomach felt strangely empty. He didn't recall expending a lot of energy, why was he already starting to suffer hunger pains?

It was as he was pondering that, that he noticed Rize had vanished from behind Thor.

 _"Hm, eating Loki should have frozen you. Perhaps it did, on the inside. Your body would have shed and digested the dead parts, then regrown them. So why not take a few moments to… refuel? This man here should do the job fantastically, the energy boost of Loki, but minus the pesky Frost Giant blood…"_ Rize continued in a sultry voice, wrapping her arms around Kaneki as she did so, with the purple haired beauty now being behind him, one of her soft hands coming up to gently brush some of his hair out of his face as she did so.

Kaneki withheld a flinch as he felt the woman's hands on him, standing up sharply and dissipating the hallucination as he did so, his grey eyes narrowing as he looked around for any sign of her, before he looked down at Thor. The giant blonde currently looking at Kaneki oddly, a hint of distrust and distaste in his gaze as he did so.

"I'll be in my room," Kaneki said quickly in response, before he turned and left the meeting room. Trying not to notice how sensitive he was to the scent of each person he passed as he did so. Or how it felt like Rize was trailing just behind him as he walked.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So I am mostly happy with this chapter, though I do think there were a couple of sentences that were awkwardly phrased, so time depending, I might go back and have a look at them. But for the most part I am happy, things are moving along, and the first arc, the 'Avengers Assemble' arc is going well, with there being many more arcs planned out to come.**

 **As well as some romances, though I haven't decided on a pairing yet, on whether it will be Avengers i.e. Scarlet Witch or Black Widow, Thor i.e. Lady Sif or Hela, Agents of Shield i.e. Skye, Bobbie Morse or Rose Hale or several others, or whether I may just go and have a snoop around the X-men and Spiderman storylines, and then bring some of those in. There really are a lot of characters, and I want the story to be balance, so about action, development, exploration, romance, horror, etc. So yeah a lot to plan and finalise, but any suggestions are welcome. Though I will clarify that it will not be a slash pairing.**

 **On top of that someone has asked me about how Kaneki will grow stronger now there aren't any more Ghouls around for him to cannibalize. To which I say, there is a lot of other edible characters with funky abilities, so prepare for some interesting times.**

 **But yeah other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a good Christmas and New Year.**

 **Please leave a review, thanks for reading and I'll see you later!**

 **Greed720.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey all, hope you all had a good New Year, here is the next chapter I hope you all enjoy it. The response so far on the story has been great, I hope you all hope tuning in for more, and continue to enjoy reading and reviewing.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Avengers.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

"Hm, eating Loki should have frozen you. Perhaps it did, on the inside. Your body would have shed and digested the dead parts, then regrown them. So why not take a few moments to… refuel? This man here should do the job fantastically, the energy boost of Loki, but minus the pesky Frost Giant blood…" _Rize continued in a sultry voice, wrapping her arms around Kaneki as she did so, with the purple haired beauty now being behind him, one of her soft hands coming up to gently brush some of his hair out of his face as she did so._

 _Kaneki withheld a flinch as he felt the woman's hands on him, standing up sharply and dissipating the hallucination as he did so, his grey eyes narrowing as he looked around for any sign of her, before he looked down at Thor. The giant blonde currently looking at Kaneki oddly, a hint of distrust and distaste in his gaze as he did so._

 _"I'll be in my room," Kaneki said quickly in response, before he turned and left the meeting room. Trying not to notice how sensitive he was to the scent of each person he passed as he did so. Or how it felt like Rize was trailing just behind him as he walked._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 4**

 **( - )**

 **(Nearly a year and a half ago)**

 _Ken Kaneki held his stomach in pain, his nose flaring with the scent of thousands of humans in the nearby vicinity. There were so many of them, families enjoying a meal out, friends meeting up for a catch up and a few drinks. It was also so happy and relaxed._

 _Yet Kaneki knew he could not walk among them, not right now that is, not unless he wanted to cause an incident and draw more attention to himself then even he could handle._

 _Pulling the fur lined hood of his black parka up over his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets, Kaneki deliberately headed off down a side alley, escaping from the multitude of laughing and chattering people that infested the high street he had just been walking down._

 _With the white haired Ghoul clenching his teeth as he did so, his hands balling into fists as he ignored the delectable, mouth-watering scents assaulting his nostrils, and the sound of his prey chattering away, oblivious to how close they were to being massacred and devoured.,_

 _Kaneki could vaguely understand what they were saying in English, just as he could still just about communicate with them, but in that way that all foreign language classes teach you: static selective sentences and conversations._

 _He didn't know the ebb and flow between native speakers, the change in cadence, and the different words that could mean the same things. English had so many synonyms! Despite a casual 6 years of English classes, he had been lost at first when he woke up here, and really only able to communicate the most simplistic of things._

 _It was for this reason that he had begun to travel into populated areas, risking losing control when he was hungry, so he could immerse himself in the culture and the language and live some kind of a life. It was a risk, but he was starting to adapt and his years of lessons back when he was at school were slowly kicking in, though he was still getting used to being called by his first name._

 _At present he was looking for someone who could make a mask, or at least something that would hide his identity like the Ghouls back home did, allowing him to feed during the nights, but then live a normal life during the day._

 _That being said, if he ever did find a place, he expected such a niche, bespoke, heavy duty item, would be pretty damn pricey, like most things in America it seems. Which of course meant that he would need to get his hands on some money, either through a job, or through theft, he hadn't decided yet._

 _It had taken a while for this realisation to occur to him, after all he could do without money for the most part. He didn't need to buy his food, his clothes could be pilfered, and there was nothing frightening about living on the street, not when he was one of the scariest things there._ _Still he had clocked on to the necessity of having an income, hence why he had recently gotten himself a job at some crappy café._

 _Wending his way through the dark back streets, Kaneki followed a familiar route as he left the hustle and bustle of the city centre behind, instead heading for a quieter less populated part of the city, his breathing still low and slow as he padded through the dark backstreets, until after about ten minutes he came to a stop._

 _Pausing, Kaneki's placid grey eyes shifted around the area, before he then looked up at the large bridge above him, unconsciously licking his lips as he did so; the bridge was one of his favoured feeding grounds since coming here._

 _He had managed to find it by pretending to be a tourist and asking about local ghost stories, playing the over eager foreign teenager to his benefit. Either way, this place was supposed to be a common suicide spot, though not common enough to have people jumping off every month._

 _He held his stomach as he felt it growl. He'd waited too long to eat, the other spots he could check were too close to the city and the living areas of other people. If he went to one of them and came up empty, then he might be tempted to grab an innocent passer-by to satiate his hunger._ _And considering how little he knew about his surroundings,_ _he wasn't all that keen on drawing too much attention to himself._

 _Suddenly, he heard a sound up on the bridge, it would seem that he might be in luck._

 _Someone was up there, for now, but who knows, after a swift drop and a sudden stop, they might be down here with him. Kaneki's lips curled upwards at that, before his smile faded when his heightened hearing picked up on other sounds._

 _Whoever was up there they weren't alone, and by the sounds of it they weren't too keen on their present company._

 _Frowning at that, and curious, despite his hunger, Kaneki quickly climbed up the side of the bridge instead of waiting for someone to jump, his inhumanly strong hands lodging into grooves in the brickwork as he rapidly and soundlessly ascended to the top of the bridge._

 _After making sure his hood was pulled up and his face was covered in shadow, Kaneki then glanced carefully over the top of the bridge, his grey eyes cutting through the darkness with ease as he found himself looking upon a disturbing site._

 _A man and a woman were fighting, if it could be called that. The woman looked beat up, and was fighting against the man with wild uncontrolled movements. Clearly, she'd never been trained, though she was fit judging by her muscles and scent. The man on the other hand, a tall, athletic man wearing expensive looking clothing, with long black hair and a stubbly, designer beard, looked angry as he lashed out at the woman, his handsome face twisted into a look of anger and fury._

 _He was trying to kill her, Ken realized absently, as he saw the man launch a vicious, if slightly uncoordinated, punch at the woman's head._

 _There was a moment, he would admit, where he considered just letting the man do so. He knew if he stepped in, he would likely end up killing the man, and really, what gave him the right to decide who lived and who died? But when the man shoved her against the metal railing of the bridge and she cried out in pain, before stumbling to the ground, he made a decision._

 _He might not be able to get back home for a while, and he might be a Ghoul, but he couldn't quite kill his human heart, not completely. He couldn't stand to see a vulnerable, seemingly innocent person in pain right in front of him._

 _His decision made, Kaneki flipped up over the edge of the bridge in a single movement, before he then darted towards the man. Engaging him before he had a chance to react as he unleashed a punch to the man's face, smacking him in the side of the face and knocking several teeth loose, even as he knocked him away from the woman, and sent him stumbling to the ground with a cry of shock and pain._

 _Pausing for a moment, Kaneki glanced down at the woman, but didn't speak a she instead extended a pale, black nailed hand to the woman. If she ever showed up at the coffee shop where he worked, he didn't want her to identify him, even if it was just by voice. However despite him not saying anything, it seemed like she understood why he was there anyway._

 _She took his offered hand, either not noticing the way his grip tightened when he smelled her blood, or choosing to ignore it, as she instead suddenly wrapped her arms around him, crying._ _Her lithe body feeling very warm against his as_ _heard her heart beating quickly, and almost felt the blood flowing through her body._

" _Thank you," The woman said, sobbing lightly as she clung onto him, oblivious to the way he had tensed at her actions._

 _With Kaneki having completely frozen. His left eye turning black, even as his grey iris turned a burning, crimson red. Her scent was filling his nose as she clung on to him like a lifeline, and honestly, her scent was astonishingly strawberry…. He hated it. It was fake, and wafted off of the woman's long red hair. She clearly used heavily scented shampoo. In fact, the scent was so strong that it perfectly covered her natural scent. She had have scrubbed fervently and paid careful attention to her hygiene to accomplish that. It was odd enough to distract him from his hunger, and from the fact that a human was right in front of him._

" _You fucker..." The man from before said in a barely coherent slur as he picked himself up off the ground. His voice slurred, and he was clearly heavily drunk. "She said... she would... she said... but then she backed out! She can't just change her mind, give her back!"_

" _No! I changed my mind! I don't want anything to do with you!" The woman replied back, ducking behind Kaneki as she did so. Her voice sounded like she was barely holding it together._

" _You bitch!" The man yelled, running towards the two of them oblivious to the danger he was now in._

 _Kaneki however, in response, just grabbed the woman and jumped off the bridge, holding her carefully despite her sudden scream of surprise._

 _The fall from the bridge to the ground would normally kill a person, hence why it was such a popular suicide spot, but that was only if you jumped from the centre. Being closer to the edge, the distance was halved, and Ken was able to bend his knees when he landed to lessen the force on his passenger, so she was fine._

 _He set her down gently._

" _Thank you," She said gratefully as he did so, with him giving her a curt nod in response, before he stepped back._

 _She still smelled weird, but his proximity to her was really starting to bother him now. He could already see Rize standing behind the woman, the beautiful, purple haired Ghoul, running her fingers sensuously through the attractive human woman's wavy red hair, whilst Rize's other hand was draped over the red haired woman's toned arms._

 _Shaking his head slightly as he saw this, Kaneki forced himself to look away._

" _My name is Natalie Shostakova, what's yours?" The woman asked, her heartbeat once again regular, though her tone still showed her nervousness as she looked up at Kaneki, as if she were uncertain as to why her saviour was now ignoring her._

 _Kaneki just shook his head at that, before he then stepped back, his hands once again clenched into fists._

" _Oh, um, well, I was in town with the Russian ballet, so if you want to come and see us, well, I'll give you a ticket as thanks," The red head then continued shyly, absentmindedly brushing a lock of her dark red hair behind her ear, and revealing a bit more of her smooth, pale flesh._

" _Go," Kaneki rasped in reply, his voice almost strained as he felt his mouth begin to water, even as he struggled to hold himself back from satiating his growing hunger here and now. The world seemed focused entirely on her, and he needed her to leave._

 _The woman faltered as she heard that, before she then looked at him with concern._

" _Are you alright?" Natalie asked, stepping closer to him, reaching out as if to try and help him._

 _Kaneki though tried to take another step back in response, he had to leave, he had to get out of here, but his legs weren't listening to him. Instead, Rize was beckoning him closer to the woman. He felt his mouth continue to water a bit with the thought of feasting on the woman's flesh, his stomach growling and gurgling at the thought. It had been weeks since he had had a proper meal, and he was starting to feel very hungry._

" _Go," Kaneki said again, struggling against himself._

 _Natalie paused as she heard that, watching him with a coldly calculating gaze that seemed misplaced, given she had been crying only a moment ago. However, the concern came back too quickly for Kaneki to be sure of what he saw, when he looked back over at her, his Ghoulish left eye now visibly glowing from within the shadow of his hood._

" _I'll get help," Natalie said finally, before turning and running up the path._

 _Kaneki tilted his head as his gaze trailed after her, shoving down the temporary feeling of longing, of wanting to chase her down like prey and tear the flesh from her bones._

 _He was shocked out of these thoughts however by a sudden crack, like a bullet being shot. A moment later, a body was falling over the edge of the bridge, bleeding, before he landed with a dull thump on the tarmacked road._

 _Casually turning, Kaneki prowled towards the prone body, his gaze flittering around as he silently approached, before with a single hand he grabbed the figures shoulder and turned him around._

 _It was the man who had been attacking the Russian woman only a few minutes beforehand. The would-be murderer, only now he was dead, his expensive clothes blood stained as his crimson life blood poured out of a gunshot wound in his chest, right over where his heart would be ._

 _He had been shot, but by who?_

 _That was the question that Kaneki should have been asking, but at present he just couldn't bring himself to care, he was a bit too ravenous._

 _With that thought in mind he dragged the body under the bridge in the hopes of avoiding any possible onlookers, after which began gorging himself on the body, tearing chunks out of it as he feasted._

 _As he was doing so, he didn't notice, the small silver attachment on the back of his hoodie, nor would he until it fell off in the wash, by which point he would just toss it in the bin without giving it much thought._

 _He did notice however the odd businessman who showed up the next day at his work, ordered a single coffee, and stayed for exactly two hours. The man would then show up every other day at various times, he would sit at all different spots, but he would always order the same thing and would always stay for two hours before leaving._

 _He also noticed the tabloids in the newspaper which had a picture of the man currently residing in his over-sized chest freezer. The man's official cause of death was by gunshot at the hands of a cop, after escaping prison after having been found guilty of three cases of sexual assault._

 _Suffice to say Kaneki had at the time thought it was a bit odd, as he didn't recall seeing or smelling any police anywhere near the bridge that night, but the man had been shot by somebody, and honestly Kaneki didn't believe there was some grand conspiracy at work here, after all he was flying under the radar so to speak._

 _A few days after the incident, he would see Natalie again once more, when the pretty Russian woman showed up at the coffee shop with a dark haired businessman. It seemed like they were on a date, but Ken couldn't quite shake the feeling that they were watching him, like they knew who he was._

 _Quickly after that though, Natalie had left the city with the Russian ballet group, heading back to their motherland, and the man stopped coming a few days after, which is why he soon put it all out of his mind as he instead settled into living a sort of normal, and peaceful life._

 **( - )**

 **(Back in the Present, on board the Helicarrier)**

"So Bruce, what do you know about our cannibalistic friend?" Tony Stark asked in amusement as he looked sideways at his fellow scientist/ Avenger, even as he implemented a search algorithm on the computer in front of him.

"You know, it's not very nice of you to call him that," Banner replied carefully, not bothering to look at Stark as he could already imagine the self-satisfied smirk on the dark haired man's smug face.

With Banner instead keeping an eye on the computer screen in front of him, watching the levels of gamma radiation coming off of Loki's spear as he tried to analyse just what its energy source was. So far he had picked up on traces of gamma radiation coming off of the energy, the same energy as the Tesseract, which he was currently using to try and track down the cube, or at least narrow down where in the world it was.

"What, a cannibal? He is. Or did you not know?" Tony asked cockily, moving something aside on one of the screens, before he grabbed it and moved it over towards Banner so that the other scientist could see. "JARVIS, bring up the files on one, Ken Kaneki."

"If I must," A resigned sounding voice said, the source of the voice being the room's speakers as Stark's AI began accessing the files Tony had requested.

Banner paused in his work as he saw this, before in spite of himself he looked over, curious about just what Stark wanted to show him.

"Did you infect the SHIELD mainframe with JARVIS?" Banner then asked blandly, not at all surprised by the billionaire's presumption and arrogance, in fact from what he had seen of Tony Stark so far, such an action completely fitted his personality.

"Well yeah of course I have," Tony replied cheerfully, completely unperturbed by just how illegal his actions were. "It's really quite useful to have an eye in SHIELD. But anyway let's have a looksee at what SHIELD has on Kaneki. Okay so 'Subject 2031 of the Index: Ken Kaneki, Codename: Cannibal.' Cannibalism is actually pretty rare, so he gets an extremely unoriginal nickname. 'First spotted on November 18th, 2011 by satellite dragging a dead body out from a river and eating it. Response #1: anonymous tip given to the local police. Follow-up: The police who investigated found nothing, and the Cannibal did not show again.'"

"Why are you reading me this?" Banner asked, hiding his discomfort with the subject matter, as he instead kept his tone bland and disinterested. He no more wanted to dig into the other people on this ships pasts, any more than he wanted them digging in his past. Even if knowledge about just what he was, was generally pretty well known.

"Because it's cool, and because I thought it might interest you to know that you're not the only one on this ship that his holding back an inner monster," Tony said blandly, absentmindedly flicking through the rest of the information on Kaneki.

"I don't follow," Banner replied with a sigh, giving up on what he was doing before as he decided to humour the childish billionaire.

Tony however just grinned, before he then swept his finger across the screen and began to read again.

"Cannibal report # 6. After his successful escapes from the police, who are beginning to think that the tips belong to a prankster, the subject has been cleared for personal response from SHIELD. To date, we have captured his image or movements on camera four times, three times he has been spotted eating suicide victims and once he seemingly ran into a fire to help get people out, though it is possible he was scavenging from the remains. The subject's identity is still unknown. Agent Romanoff will confront him, and Agent Barton will follow up. The setting is intended to be Sunset Bridge, a possible location that the Cannibal uses to salvage corpses."

"I still don't see what this has to do with me," Banner said, raising an eyebrow now as Stark continued to read the information that SHIELD had gathered on the Cannibal, most of which were speculation. In fact there had only been three confirmed sightings of him actually practicing cannibalism. Which was something that genuinely surprised Bruce, after all SHIELD was nothing if not efficient, and as a spy agency they likely had access to a lot of high-tech surveillance equipment, for them to have so little spoke volumes about Kaneki's abilities.

"Shush," Tony replied cheerfully as he skim read the rest of the information on Kaneki. "It's in here somewhere. Ahh yes here it is, 'Cannibal report #8. Agent Romanoff's mission was a success. She placed a tracker on codename: Cannibal's jacket, and Agent Barton was able to follow the tracker to uncover the subject's home and identification. Subject has been identified as Ken Kaneki, further investigation reveals faked papers.

A psychological profile compiled by Agent Romanoff based on their first interaction indicates the possibility that Kaneki cannot control his eating habits. He urged her to run, and was visibly holding himself back and away from her, as if afraid that he would hurt her. Behaviour also indicates a high value placed on human life. Cannibal report #10. Further investigation has shown that Kaneki does not eat anything except for the suicide victims roughly one or two each month. Though it is believed that a number of missing persons, offenders in cases relating to violent crimes may be attributed to the Cannibal, this however is unconfirmed."

"Stop. Just, stop," Banner said, looking at Stark tiredly as he did so, before he rubbed his temples.

"The point I'm trying to make, is that according to SHIELD, he's in the same boat as you. He can't be who he wants to be, because he is only able to eat people. Not eating for a month and then eating a person? You can't tell me that it's his life's choices that allow his body to do that without dying," Stark replied before grinning. "I just thought you might be interested, after all you're not the only person on the ship with an inner monster. Hey, who knows, maybe you could form a club?"

Banner sighed at that, ignoring Stark's mocking, really he had no idea what was going through the other genius's mind. Was he doing this because he thought it was funny, or because he was interested and thought Banner might be too, or was he just being a social incapable dick? Knowing Stark it was likely all three.

"It may be a side effect of his mutation, whatever it is that allows him to have incredible strength and durability," Bruce said with a shrug, after all Kaneki wouldn't be the first mutant, in fact more and more the different news agencies around the world were reporting on the growing number of mutants.

This had of course stirred up the worst of humanity, those who were controlled by their fear and insecurity about the unknown. Friends of Humanity, or something, is what the most vocal group called themselves. Well Banner knew they would likely have a fit if what he was became public.

"That's the spirit!" Tony said cheerfully unaware of Banner's concerns, as he was instead more interested in being proved right, in that Banner would be interested. "No better way to pass the time than to gossip about someone behind their back."

"Is that so?" A third voice cut in, a familiar one.

Tony glanced over his shoulder and waved the speaker off casually, his expression not changing for a moment as he saw Steve Rogers enter the room, wearing a white T-shirt that was obviously too tight for him, and a boy scout scowl on his face as he eyed Tony suspiciously, instantly suspecting him of being up to no good.

Which in fairness was the truth.

"Hello Captain Rogers," Bruce greeted amicably as he looked over to Steve Rogers, someone he wasn't entirely familiar with, but who was thankfully normal enough, and seemed as overwhelmed by all of this as he himself was.

"I think that you need to get back to work," Steve said stubbornly, nodding to Bruce, before he locked gazes with the smirking Tony Stark, his comment clearly meant for the irresponsible billionaire as opposed to Banner.

To which Tony merely snorted in amusement, before walked around the table.

"We are. The formula is locked and sweeping. As soon as we get a match, we'll know about it," Tony replied airily, gesturing to the computers around them as he did so, before he then shot a grin over to the Captain. "I wonder, Captain, did you know that one of your teammates is a cannibal?"

Steve frowned as he heard that, before he then sent Tony a confused look.

"I recall you calling Kaneki that before, but I thought that it was more a reference to his fighting style and jaw strength than anything," Steve replied slowly, choosing his words carefully as he sent Tony an odd look. He had known Tony's father, Howard, and so knew that the Stark's were an odd bunch, with, well let's say eccentric personalities, but still.

"It is. Sorta. Only, he actually is a cannibal. As in he eats people in his free time," Tony said cheerfully. "Though I am curious, do you reckon he cooks them, or just eats them raw, like sushi?"

"That's not funny," Steve replied sternly, assuming as he did that Stark was trying to take the piss out of him, after all that was kind of what Stark did.

"I'm not trying to be funny. If I was, you would be on the floor right now, dying of laughter. I was honestly wondering if you knew," Tony replied lightly, a grin still playing around his lips as he saw Steve's eyes narrow.

"Is everything a joke to you?!" Steve asked irritably, pushing the idea that one of his teammates was a cannibal to one side for a moment. After all he had heard nonsense like this before, and those stories that the men told in the trenches back in the day about the Orientals was just propaganda, nothing more, he knew that now. The Japs weren't really monsters, no, that was just something the brass spread to get the men stoked up and ready to fight, and the people to buy War Bonds and support the war effort.

"Funny things are." Stark replied glibly, the ever present grin on his face not fading.

"You're telling me that one of our teammates is a cannibal! And you're just okay with that?!" Steve asked incredulously, slowly beginning to believe Stark now. After all what the men spoke about in the mess halls were obviously bullshit, or exaggerated, but Stark seemed genuine, and there were anomalies, freaks and weirdos out there, weren't there.

Tony shrugged at that, though the grin on his face didn't waver.

"It's just one of the many secrets on this ship that I am privy to," Stark then replied smugly, crossing his arms in front of him as he did so, before he then feigned sharing a knowing look with the bemused Banner.

"You've been hacking the ship?" Steve asked bluntly, pushing his concerns about Kaneki to one side for now, just as he had when Loki brought up how the white haired Jap had bitten him.

"Yup. I want to know all of Fury's little secrets. You'd be surprised, Captain, Kaneki is just the tip of the iceberg," Tony said, before he then feigned remembering how Steve was found frozen in ice. "No offense…"

"What do you mean?" Steve asked ignoring Stark's jokes, his curiosity instead getting the better of him as he heard how Fury was keeping secrets.

"Why did Fury call us now? Why not earlier? What isn't he telling us?" Tony asked leaning on the table now as he then grabbed a bag of crisp and popped one into his mouth. After which he then held out the bag to Steve. "Want one?"

"You think Fury's hiding something? Something bigger than this apparent secret about Kaneki?" Steve asked, ignoring the offered bag as he did so.

Tony took it back and began to walk towards Bruce.

"I think Fury brought in Kaneki to be the mystery. To sate our curiosity and keep us from looking further by giving us this strange new teammate. But, with that man, one must always look underneath the underneath. Captain, he's not just a spy, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets," Tony explained, now being genuine as he turned and looked between both Banner and Rogers, both of whom shared a look.

"Do you want one?" Tony then asked, holding the bag out to Bruce now, who took one after a moment of hesitation.

"Dr. Banner, do you agree with Stark?" Steve asked tearing his eyes away from the smug Stark as he instead looked over to Bruce, who in response hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube," Bruce started, "I think it was meant for you." he then continued, nodding at Tony as he did so.

Tony nodded too, as he and Bruce then turned to Steve and continued to explain their theories to him.

 **( - )**

 **(** **Elsewhere on the Helicarrier, with Kaneki)**

Ken Kaneki sat in quietly his room, still wearing his combat suit, the blinds open to allow him to feel the sunlight on his face, shining on his closed eyes. Which was somewhat distracting as he was currently trying to order his thoughts and calm his mind, with him trying focused on anything besides his hunger.

"791... 784... 777... 770..." Kaneki whispered to himself quietly, before he suddenly paused.

His nose twitching as a familiar smell assailed him, something both odd and familiar. It was the chemically altered solider, Steve Rogers, and something else, something that smelled much fainter, and not as familiar.

Frowning at that Kaneki stood up, pulling his face mask up as he did so, before he flipped up his hood too, as he then opened his door, only for him to then see Captain America carrying an odd gun with a glowing blue barrel, a glow that looked strangely similar to the one that Loki's scythe had had, it had a vaguely similar, if diluted scent to, something that became more obvious when Kaneki open is door and found himself face to face with Rogers.

Either way it was certainly odd, as the scent despite being subtle, was also scintillating. It smelled like everything he ever wanted. It smelled like his mother's cooking, like the lilies that had been in their house, and, strangely, like coffee at Anteiku. All of these scents flowed through him, merging into one as his gaze locked on the glowing blue weapon.

However, there was also something under it, a faint scent of rotten eggs, something that also made him want to gag.

Kaneki wasn't sure what that weapon was, or what connection it had to Loki's sceptre, but he knew it was trouble.

"Kaneki," Captain America greeted stiffly, his blue eyes shooting to Kaneki's hidden face, even as his body tensed up minutely, his discomfort obvious to Kaneki, even if the blonde man tried his best to hide it.

Kaneki nodded to him at that, ignoring his reaction as he instead eyed the weapon curiously.

Following on from that there was a pause in the conversation after this initial greeting, which led to Kaneki glancing up at Captain Rogers' face, only to see him looking at him with an odd look on his face.

Once again he could read the man's discomfort, and suspicion, he was tense and wary, though Kaneki wasn't entirely sure why, nor was he sure why the man was carrying a weapon.

"What?" Kaneki asked, tensing himself, as he prepared to leap out of the way in case the Captain attacked him for some reason, the organ on the small of his back throbbing gently, as he prepared to unleash his Kagune at any moment.

Steve though collected himself before he then pushed past Kaneki, making no move to attack or to bring the weapon to bare on him as he instead made to carry on walking down the hall.

"Nothing," Steve replied, before continuing his walk down the hall.

Kaneki titled his head at that, before he sniffed the air, realising as he did so that the Avengers, and Thor all seemed to be converging in the same general direction. A meeting perhaps? One that he wasn't invited too?

Frowning slightly at that, Kaneki turned and began to follow behind the Captain, his curiousity getting the best of him, even if he noticed that Steve seemed even tenser than before as he sensed Kaneki following him.

Frowning even deeper as he noticed this, Ken could only wonder at just what was up with the other man, before he shrugged it off, it wasn't his business if the super soldier wanted to act odd.

 _"You know Kaneki, there is no one around, we could have a couple bites,"_ Rize drawled out as she appeared next to Steve a coy smirk on her face as she looked around at Kaneki. _"Sure they will miss him eventually, but by the time they do we could be off and away. This airship, it's basically a floating buffet, just waiting for you to take advantage of it…"_

Ken stiffened and froze where he was, not following the Captain anymore as the broad shouldered blonde continued on down the corridor, heading off to meet up with the rest of the group.

No, it was better that he was not in a crowded room right now, not since he still hadn't come down from the high he had gained from eating Loki's ear. Instead he turned on the balls of his feet and began to walk back towards his own room. He was hungry enough to hallucinate, but he was still in control. He just needed to find some food soon, in the next couple days, or he would be in more serious trouble.

As he went back towards his room however, heading down the corridor quietly, ignoring the agents who passed by him as he did so, he soon found himself thrown to one side as the suddenly and unexpectedly ship rocked, lurching to one side, and almost sending him crashing onto his arse, had his reflexes not kicked in first.

Following on from that alarms began blaring loudly, even as the lights above began to flicker.

Something was happening, that much was obvious. Which is why after taking a moment to gather himself, he stood up and glanced around, after which he began to prowl along the corridor. Ignoring the SHIELD agents that were running past him and arming themselves as he did so.

He wasn't sure what had happened, and couldn't see any signs of damage, but there was no way that the alarms going off and the ship lurching like that was good.

Pausing for a moment Kaneki sniffed the air, and almost immediately he picked up on the sweet, metallic scent of blood. Human blood.

His mouth watered as he realised that, but he shook himself. People were hurt, and his allies might need help, he could feed later, for now he needed to find out what was going on.

With that in mind Kaneki ran towards the source, and found himself heading in the direction that the rest of his 'team', and Thor had been gathering.

It was as he was running though, that he felt the ship lurch again, dropping from the sky for moment, making Kaneki float in the air as if gravity suddenly stopped working, before he then went crashing back to the floor. A floor that gave way to the floor below as he did so, which forced him to push himself off the falling debris and towards the wall of the corridor below, after which he landed back on the ground in a crouch, almost like cat, his grey eyes gleaming as they shifted back and forth, searching for an enemy.

He didn't see any signs of anyone immediately though, either ally or enemy. That soon changed however when moments later he heard a loud, almost deafening roar of rage and anger echoing through the ship. Followed rapidly by a familiar female agent running towards him, her red hair whirling about behind her as she full on sprinted down the corridor.

"Give me a lift up!" Natasha Romanov yelled to Kaneki as she approached.

In response to which Kaneki barely had the time to even process the request and put his hands together as a foot step before she was on him. With the lithe, and beautiful red head stepping into his hands, her other foot landing on his shoulder, before in a single smooth move she leaped to the floor above them.

As soon as she was no longer blocking his vision however, he soon picked up on what she was running from. As an incredibly, almost overpoweringly smelly, green behemoth lumbered into view, tearing through anything that got in his way and roaring as it ran forward, heading straight for the startled Kaneki.

"Kaneki! I'm leaving Hulk to you!" Natasha shouted 'helpfully' over her shoulder before disappearing to go do something else. Ken didn't really know what, or care, as at that moment, a massive green fist lashed out and smashed him into a wall. The blow hitting him head on like a freight train and nearly knocking the breath out of him as he crashed into the metal wall, denting it as he did so.

"Oof!" Kaneki groaned, before his eyes snapped up as he wrestled himself out of the metal wall, his torn muscles already knitting themselves back together and his bones mending as he landed on the ground, the sclera of his left eye already black, and his iris a burning angry crimson.

Not that the Hulk noticed, as Banner's alter ego was already running past him, completely dismissing him as a nonentity that it had already dealt with, as the green monstrosity instead headed toward the opening up to the next floor.

Seeing this, Kanreki knew what he had to do. He wasn't sure what was happening or why Banner had changed, but he did know that allowing the Hulk to go up to the next floor was a very bad idea.

Hm, he wondered if he could break through the Hulk's skin, or what the massive, musclebound mass tasted like. With that in mind, he pulled down his mask and charged the beast before it could leap from this floor to the next.

Moments later Kaneki leaped onto the Hulk's broad back, his strong hands tearing into the Hulk's muscled back, even as he immediately began tearing into the green flesh with his teeth, his unnaturally sharp teeth, and phenomenal bite strength chomping through the Hulk's thick hide and into the meat of its back as he ripped and tore at the back of the creatures neck.

In response to this unexpected assault the Hulk roared, stumbling as it failed to leap through the opening in the floor above. With it instead swinging around, clawing at its back with one meaty hand. With the failing to get a hold of the slim Ghoul, before it then turned and smashed its back into one of the corridor's metal walls, crushing Kaneki as it did so. Which in turn forced him to release his grip as he cried out in pain and fell to the floor, even as his fractured ribs healed up in an instant.

Ignoring this though, Kaneki stood up to face the beast. As he did so he allowed the hunk of flesh he had torn from its back to slide down his throat, after which he then wiped the green ichor away from his lips with the back of his hand.

Almost instantly he felt a sudden and tremendous rush of energy seemingly burned through him, setting his veins alight as pain tore through his body, a pain he ignored with ease as he instead glared hungrily at the Hulk.

The Hulk however, now recognising Kaneki as a threat he needed to smash, turned and faced him, growling angrily as it did so.

However as it did this, Kaneki managed to glimpse that the spot on the beast's shoulder where he had bitten had already fully healed. That was a healing factor on a par with his own, if not greater, and his was practically record breaking, even among Ghouls.

"Come on then." Kaneki growled quietly, his lips curling upwards in a vicious snarl, flecks of green entering both his callous looking grey eye and his hungry looking red one as he glared at the snarling green monstrosity.

In response to that the Hulk slammed both fist on the ground and roared again, his bellow echoing through the entire ship as he let loose his rage, and issued his challenge to Kaneki, one that the hungry, hyped up Ghoul was more than happy to except.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So that was the chapter, what do you all think? I hope you enjoyed it? Next chapter we will have a battle between monsters which will be pretty interesting, even as the rest of the story progresses and the plot begins to move along. And considering just how far the MCU has progressed since the Avengers, well suffice to say I have a shit tonne of source material to play with.**

 **Not that there will be huge amounts of canon in this story, as I love throwing wrenches in the works, and turning canon on its head, and considering the plots I have for Kaneki, well it's going to be awesome.**

 **Other than that my plot for this story is still fluid, including the pairing, which I have not decided yet. Though I will tell you that it won't be a slash pairing. But there will still be a pairing, as I am a sucker for romance, even if it is a bit unorthodox or odd.**

 **Yep so I hope you all continue to review, as I do love reading them, and any suggestions and what not that people have.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll catch you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So it's been a while for this story eh, not to worry here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Thanks for reading, and please leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Marvel and its related work.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _However as it did this, Kaneki managed to glimpse that the spot on the beast's shoulder where he had bitten had already fully healed. That was a healing factor on a par with his own, if not greater, and his was practically record breaking, even among Ghouls._

 _"_ _Come on then." Kaneki growled quietly, his lips curling upwards in a vicious snarl, flecks of green entering both his callous looking grey eye and his hungry looking red one as he glared at the snarling green monstrosity._

 _In response to that the Hulk slammed both fist on the ground and roared again, his bellow echoing through the entire ship as he let loose his rage, and issued his challenge to Kaneki, one that the hungry, hyped up Ghoul was more than happy to except._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 5**

 **( - )**

 **(On the Helicarrier, with Kaneki)**

Leaping off of the wall, Kaneki was fast on his feet, little more than a blur to the average human, as he once again dodged a strike from the Hulk, before he bounded off of the floor and avoided yet another heavy right hook.

Darting back a few steps, his heart beating faster than ever, Kaneki once again used the walls to avoid the Hulk's next rush, after which he then leapt forward, rapidly switching from defence to offence. His kagune, four sharp, red tendrils erupting from his lower back, the tendrils flecked through with green energy as he used them to propel himself forward, adding momentum to his strike as he landed a two footed kick into the Hulk's head, snapping it to one side and dislocating its jaw, before he bounded away again.

Realistically Kaneki knew that there was no way he was going to be able to beat the Hulk with sheer strength, or such straightforward attacks. After all the green beast was many, many times stronger than Kaneki, hell the creature was probably stronger than any Ghoul that had ever existed.

On top of which he couldn't wear the Hulk down by dodging and weaving around his blows, as that would only succeed in making it angrier. Which in turn would not only cause even more collateral damage, but also energise the Hulk more, as from what Kaneki had seen so far, the angry the Hulk got the more powerful it became.

No, all he could do was use hit and run attacks, dart in and cause him as much damage as he could before then leaping away. Yes this would piss the Hulk off, but it would also allow Kaneki to draw the beast away from the more populated areas of the ship, and also allow him to then manoeuvre it to the edge of the ship, at which point he would then hopefully be able to kick it off the flying vessel. A ten thousand foot drop would hopefully put the rage fuelled monster down permanently, and if not then it would get rid of the pest.

"Stay still puny man!" The Hulk roared in a barely intelligible voice as he swung around trying to grab the rapidly moving Kaneki, even as the white haired Ghoul danced across the corridor, staying out of reach of the Hulk's large grasping hands.

"Shut up." Kaneki muttered to himself as he leapt over the Hulk, dodging another the meaty hand, as he instead jabbed his kagune forward like a lance, tearing into the Hulk's broad back and ripping through monster's back muscles, after which he threw himself off of it, and continued retreating down the hallway, avoiding the surprisingly fast beast smoothly as it lumbered after him, letting loose another deafening roar of fury as it did so.

Dancing backwards across the metallic floor, heading in the opposite direction to where the Shield Agents had been running, Kaneki sniffed the air, trying to find the thinnest wall he could, by finding the freshest air. Thankfully he could find a small opening just a little ways from them, likely having been caused by the explosion that had rocked the ship only moments earlier.

"Rah!" The Hulk roared, barrelling forward with a furious bellow as he tried to tackle Kaneki.

In response to which Kaneki jumped up into the air, stabbing his kagune into the Hulk again, his kagune impaling the beast through both of his wrists, after which Kaneki darted in again and ripped another chunk off of its neck. His sharp teeth tearing through thick green hide, and the Hulk's greenish blood staining Kaneki's mouth as he wrenched his head away and unleashed several heavy blows to the back of its head, each of which contained enough power to tear through a full grown man's chest with ease.

Yep, this was definitely going to piss it off.

Stabbing his other two kagune into the Hulk's knees, Kaneki forced the green beast to one knee, before he then tried to push off from his back, only for him to be taken by surprise when the Hulk reached up grabbed his kagune.

The giant creature letting out a roar of pain when spikes sprouted up all along the red tendrils, piercing the skin and muscle on the Hulk's hand, even as Kaneki tried to break free, unleashing several more punches to the beast's head, his blows increasing in power, so much so that they shattered his knuckles, in spite of his technique being perfect.

Ignoring the sudden pain, and barrage of punches, the Hulk instead let loose another bellow of rage, even as it whipped Kaneki off of his feet by his kagune and smashed him into a nearby metal pillar. The force of the blow shattering several of the white haired Ghoul's bones, and part of his skull as he folded the metal pillar nearly in two, only for the Hulk to repeat the action as he used Kaneki like some kind of medieval flail, smashing him into walls, and floors as hard as he could, his every blow leaving a splattering's of blood, and bent and warped metal.

For Kaneki this brutal smack down knocked him for a loop, his skull having been partially shattered, and his brain damaged. That being said his injuries were rapid healing, his bones cracking back into place and flesh knitting back together, even as the Hulk continued to smash him around.

Whether it was the battering he was receiving, or the brain damage, but whatever it was made Kaneki feel disconnected from the world, as if watching from an outside point of view as the Hulk beat and bludgeoned him, his body healing up at almost the exact rate that the Hulk broke it.

The pain was almost overwhelming, and the experience of was beginning to make Kaneki flash back to torture he had received at Jason's hands.

With another roar the Hulk finally released Kaneki, sending him flying into a nearby wall, denting it as he did so, and partially rupturing the seams, making it so cold air suddenly began to whistle through a small gap in the wall.

Blood pooling around the Ghoul's crumbled body. A body which twitched a few times, before it began to rise.

"1000... 993... 986..." Kaneki muttered to himself as he forced himself up and onto his feet, focusing on the numbers, the oh so familiar numbers as he began to count down from one thousand, subtracting seven each time. It was almost therapeutic, it helped him focus and it gave him strength.

Partially lying against the damaged wall, Kaneki's breathing was harsh, bloody spittle leaving his mouth with every breath. His heart was beating erratically, causing pain in his chest, even as his broken ribs clicked and cracked back into place. His bodysuit was in tatters, with splintered bones protruding from the material, and the back entirely ripped open due to his kagune. His white hair was also now dyed pink with blood from his healing head injury.

Despite this though, despite the pain that radiated through his body and the blood that was slowly puddling around him, he was alive. In fact he felt more alive than he had in years. His guts burned as he digested the Hulk's flesh, and his veins felt like molten lava was flowing through them as opposed to blood.

Cracking his head to the side, and cracking the finger of his right hand, Kaneki's eyes flicked open, even as he twisted his body, his spinal cord realigning itself with a chorus of cracking, grating sounds. He had made it to his feet, a savage, maniacal grin on his face now as he threw his head back, one hand clasping his face, leaving bloody trails on it, even as he let loose a sudden giggle.

He could feel his kagune pulse, and his bones heal, but the pain was still there. Ten days of having his limbs cut off and regrown, ten days of having his tongue pulled out and his body flayed, ten days of counting and of desperate hopes being crushed. He had gone through so much whilst under Jason's tender care.

He had suffered so much, and even as he stood there, it all rushed back. The last few years, he had thought he had moved on, but he hadn't, nor did he want to. He had once been reborn in pain and agony, suffering had been his teacher, and rage had been his aphrodisiac. Never had he felt more alive than he had when he had broken free of his tormenter, and turned the torture back on him.

The righteous anger, the inconsolable rage, it got his heart pumping, and sent his hunger into overdrive. And currently he was angry, the Hulk had hurt him, it had beaten and battered him, it had attacked him and tormented him.

Now it was Kaneki's turn.

Lowering himself to the ground, his kagune began to rise into the air, weaving through the air almost mockingly, even as Kaneki's eyes locked on his opponent, one greyish green and amused, the other a burning green flecked red and hungry.

In response, the Hulk turned back to the puny, broken man and roared, smashing its meaty green fist onto the ground, warping the metal below it, the strength of its roar sending vibrations throughout the ship, even as it hunch over and prepared to rush Kaneki.

"979... 972... 965..." Kaneki continued to count, his lips curving upwards gleefully as he licked his lips, tasting both his own blood and the Hulk's, a lethal concoction to be sure. He wanted to return it. Let them feel the pain he had. Especially now his bones and flesh had all rapidly healed from the damage he had previously received.

Darting forwards, Kaneki was on the roaring, lumbering green beast in moments, his body twisting as he unleashed a hail of punches and kicks on the beast, calling on all his Ghoulish strength, and the adrenaline rush he got from the Hulk's own flesh as he lashed out in fury.

Despite this though his blows did not move it, the Hulk was simply too large and too durable, its strength dwarfing Kaneki's own. However his kagune, now shot through with green energy, and his teeth were able to tear into it. The tendrils ripping into the beast, barbs forming on them as they locked into the flesh and tore out massive chunks from the roaring creature's arms, legs and torso. With Kaneki's teeth biting into the Hulk's neck, tearing out a mouth full of flesh, even as he smash his clenched fists into its skull.

His blows probably causing more damage to him, as the strength of his punches and the durability of the Hulk shattered bones, though hopefully it caused the Hulk a lot of pain too.

With a loud bellow the Hulk ignored the injuries, with them healing so quickly there was no visible damage, with it instead grabbed onto one of Kaneki's kagune with one hand again, only for it to roar when red spikes erupted outwards again, shredding its hands again.

Roaring the Hulk threw him away, after which it gave chase, its large fist crashing into the wall next to him, but not fast enough, as by the time it landed Kaneki had already moved.

The slimmer, lighter man dodging around the Hulk, moving much faster than the green monster. In fact with the disparity in speed and manoeuvrability between the two it would be almost easy to defeat the beast, if only Kaneki could land a hit that would put the beast down, or at least disorientate it.

Instead the best he was managing to do were little more than scratches, bites, gouges and tears, they were painful but nowhere near enough, especially considering the creature's regenerative ability was likely beyond even Kaneki's own natural healing.

Using his kagune to once again launch himself across the corridor and out of the way of the Hulk's rampage, Kaneki realised that his stomach was starting to ache, distractingly so, on top of which his blood continued to burn as if it had become molten, causing intense pain to flare throughout his body.

Absently as he lashed out at the Hulk's legs, attempting to hamstring the monster. All the while he began to wonder whether the half dozen mouthfuls of gamma radiated meat he'd managed to consume were not digesting right, even if the Hulk was originally human. He wasn't sure on that front, but what he did know was the meal was energising him, already he could see tints of green in his kagune, and he felt stronger and faster than before, it was like an adrenaline rush, on crack cocaine.

Clashing several more times, the fight travelling further down the corridor every moment, Kaneki merged his four kagune into a single blade like appendage, one that over his entire arm, even as he leapt back, after which he pushed off the wall and darted towards the Hulk, heading low in the hopes of dodging underneath the Hulk's grasp which would allow him to get within range to hopefully deal a grievous injury. Personally he was aiming for a lopped of limb.

Unfortunately though the Hulk proved itself to be more intelligent than just a simple mad beast as it read Kaneki's moves and predicted his actions, or at least that is what Kaneki presumed happened when the Hulk lashed out with a foot, punting Kaneki's in the side and sending him hurtling away.

"Damn." Kaneki gasped in pain as he was thrown backwards, through a large door and into a cargo hold. His lip curling upwards in anger, even as the organ on his back pulsed again, two more tendrils forcing themselves out of the organ and forming themselves into another greenish red, bladed appendage on his other arm.

Panting slightly Kaneki grit his teeth, his ears echoing with the shouts and screams of the people still in the cargo hold, even as they scattered, fleeing from the ongoing fight between monsters.

A feral growl left Kaneki's lips as he heard that, his kagune pulsing again, even as a glowing reddish, green carapace began to form around his torso, with it slowly beginning to spread up his neck too.

Snarling as he felt his, Kaneki's was soon distracted by another growl, one that was originating from his stomach. Despite his recent snack he felt starved, the fight with the Hulk was taking a lot out of him. The people running around... they all looked so tempting.

 _"Yes, grab a snack, it'll help with the fight. You don't even have to be the one to kill them if you don't want, why not let the Hulk give the finishing blow? He's got enough lives on his conscious already, one more won't hurt,"_ Rize said lightly, appearing in the corner of the panting Kaneki's burning red eye, stepping over the debris daintily as she glided towards him.

The image was ruined though, as with another roar the Hulk charged through the hallucination and thundered towards Kaneki.

Rolling sideways to avoid the crashing fist, Kaneki darted forwards faster than ever, his bladed arms lashing out and carving into the Hulk, slicing through the thick green hide with ease.

Dodging around the Hulk's continued punches, Kaneki continued to chip away at the beast, launching himself off of the debris and putting his speed and agility to the test as he danced around his far bigger and stronger opponent, punishing it for every punch.

Despite this though the Hulk just continued to scream at him in rage and instead of wearing him out, it seemed Kaneki's every blow made the Hulk stronger and faster. Which was bad as Kaneki was quickly tiring, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, not when he was pushing his body beyond the limits in order to keep up with the Hulks formidable strength and increasing speed.

Lashing out with his right blade, Kaneki cried out in a mixture of pain and anger as he saw the blade shatter, even as it sliced through the Hulk's hand, taking off three fingers in penance. Something which made the Hulk cry out in agony.

Dispersing his other blade and reforming it into two tendrils, Kaneki threw both of these up in defence, even as he darted backwards, grabbing the meaty fingers for a snack as the Hulk bull rushed him, its continued roars beginning to give Kaneki a major headache.

 _"_ _You're losing Kaneki, this is a monster you can't out power, or at least not giving in to your hunger. It'll take a monster to defeat a monster."_ Rize said softly as she lay on a nearby crate, one spared from the Hulk's rampage, her violet eyes gleaming with satisfaction as she watched Kaneki tearing the flesh off of the Hulk's fingers, even as he leapt away from the raging beasts continued onslaught.

Glaring over at Rize, Kaneki's eyes widened as he looked past the violet haired beauty and saw a large window behind her, one that was filling the room with natural light. For a moment rational thought returned to him. If he could somehow get the Hulk out of the ship, he could survive this. The problem was, he couldn't fall out too, he wasn't sure he would survive a fall from this height.

Leaping backwards Kaneki dodged another punch, the air rushing past his face due to the proximity, after which he leapt up, clearing nearly fifteen feet as he hit the ceiling, his hand warping and tearing into the metal, even as he began crawling across the ceiling like some kind of giant insect, small sharp legs forcing themselves out of his glowing carapace as he did so, helping him cling onto the surface overhead.

But only for a moment, as seconds later he flipped down and landed on the Hulk's broad back, his kagune rushing forwards and plunging into and through the Hulk's torso, with Kaneki following suit as he began tearing at the green skin with his teeth.

Bellowing with pain the hulk swung around trying to throw him off. Not that Kaneki cared as he swallowed the Hulk's flesh, despite his stomach ache. The thick skin rolling about in his mouth, like jerky, even as he ground it to swallow quickly.

Once again it gave him a rush of energy, even if it did taste bad, like some kind of spoiled meant. Kaneki could only equate it to drinking milk that was on the very edge of it's sell by date, there was a sourness that lapped at the flavour, much like eating a Ghoul, only worse.

Still it gave him energy, and it did something to his kagune, as like before he could feel his kagune and armoured carapace pulse each time he swallowed a bite of the Hulk.

The Hulk though didn't just stand still and take this. With a loud roar it spun around, once again moving faster than before, grabbing Kaneki this time, even as it swung him into the ground in front of the beast.

Letting out a loud laugh, Kaneki felt no pain as his armour protected him, the spindly legs coming from it ripping and tearing into the Hulk's hands, getting a roar of pain from the giant.

Roaring the Hulk fought through the pain as it grabbed Kaneki by his head, ignoring how his kagune with slashing and hacking at it. The Hulk instead roaring in rage as it then proceeded to smash him into the metal floor. The force of the blow cracking Kaneki's carapace, even as it caused a severe pain in the back of his head and neck. Not that the Hulk cared as it continued to lay in to him, unleashing devastating punches that shook the entire airship.

Bellowing once more the Hulk raised an arm, likely planning on smashing him into a pulp once and for all.

Not that Kaneki would allow him, as with barely a though he reacted in an instant, his kagune darting forwards and spearing through the Hulk's hand in the hopes of delaying him.

In response to which the Hulk roared with pain and ripped the kagune out of his hand, tearing them apart this time, its eyes practically glowing a gleeful, acid green colour.

Crying out in pain as he saw his shredded kagune fall to the ground around him, Kaneki glared upwards as the Hulk roared in his face and clasped his hands together, lifting them up over his head as if he were preparing to smash Kaneki into the ground.

Seeing this Kaneki tried to move, but he was so sore and tired, he couldn't seem to get his muscles to respond. Ken still felt starved, his guts churning and his veins bulging and throbbing in pain. Was this it? Was he going to be crushed to death, the same way Rize was?

Kaneki's eyes snapped open at that thought, the blood vessels on his bloodshot grey eyes turning completely green now, his iris following suit, even as his burning red eye gained more green flecks. He was not going to die! He still had too much to do, he still had his whole life ahead of him! He had faced death once before, and he would do so again!

Letting loose a roar the Hulk slammed both of his fist down on Kaneki, or rather he tried to, as before he could a metal hammer flew out of nowhere and smashed into him, blowing the green giant off of his feet and smashing him into the nearby window.

Seeing this Kaneki acted on an instinct, twisting on the ground he rose in a distinctly cat like stance, before with a snarl of anger he threw himself forwards. Rushing the Hulk, and slamming his narrow shoulder in to its muscled gut, the force of the blow smashing the Hulk against the window again, cracking the glass.

"Get out!" Kaneki roared, his regenerated kagune erupting forth once more, causing agonizing pain, pain that Kaneki ignored as he instead slammed the reddish green tendrils into the window. The sharpened structure now forged out of RC Cells, infused with Gamma Radiation shattering the plate glass with ease, removing the one thing keeping the Hulk within the Helicarrier.

Bellowing in rage the Hulk fell backwards, scrabbling at the side of the aircraft, looking for purchase as a combination of its massive weight and gravity dragged it down.

Seeing this Kaneki cruelly slammed his kagune into the Hulk's hands, tearing through muscle and bone as he forced it to let go, which in turn meant it fell thousands of feet through the air and to the earth below.

"Ha! that was a mighty battle friend," Thor's deep voice spoke out behind Kaneki, the blonde haired Asgardian letting loose a loud laugh as he summoned his hammer back to his hand, after which he flipped it up into the air and caught it, his blue eyes gleaming with amusement. "Tis lucky I arrived when I did though, it looked like Banner was about to finish you."

Kaneki twisted around as he heard that, his eyes practically glowing with hunger and wrath, his veins still burning with foreign energy. The four tendrils of his kagune waving around above him, like snakes poised to strike.

"Friend Kaneki…" Thor said, his voice now wary as his stance turned guarded. "What has happened to you? You looked possessed!"

In response to that Kaneki growled, crouching lower to the ground, his eyes flashing with barely contained anger.

 _"_ _Oh my sweet Kaneki, I can almost feel your hunger, the Hulk, he wasn't satisfying was he. That's because he enhanced everything about you, including your metabolism. Even now you've almost digested the few bites of flesh you got, and when you do, well who knows you might start digesting yourself. You need to eat Kaneki, you need to rip and tear into Thor, after all, isn't that what comrades are for?"_ Rize whispered, moving around Kaneki and over to the wary looking Thor, even as Kaneki's heart began to thunder faster, a roaring sound filling his ears and his vision beginning to blur.

"I'm hungry!" Kaneki roared in fury, his voice barely intelligible, all sense of reason gone, as he threw himself towards Thor, ignoring the blonde 'gods' shout of surprise, as he stepped back and swung his hammer around. The mass of metal colliding with Kaneki's head with a thunderous crashing sound.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So a bit heavy on the action and violence this chapter. Not to worry though there will be more dialogue next chapter as well as some fall out as I push along through the Avengers events. Setting the stage for some later plot points I want to explore.**

 **So yep other than that thanks for reading and I hope you leave a review. On that not though I will clarify that any pairing for this story will not be a male on male pairing, I'm afraid I don't particularly want to write a slash story. So no, I am afraid it won't be a Loki pairing, or a Thor pairing or a Captain America pairing.**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the story and leave a review.**

 **Catch you later.**

 **Greed720.**

 **PS. If you have time please check out my other stories.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So here is the next chapter of the story, I hope you all like it and leave a review. The support so far for this story has been really good, I hope it continues.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or the Avengers.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _Oh my sweet Kaneki, I can almost feel your hunger, the Hulk, he wasn't satisfying was he. That's because he enhanced everything about you, including your metabolism. Even now you've almost digested the few bites of flesh you got, and when you do, well who knows you might start digesting yourself. You need to eat Kaneki, you need to rip and tear into Thor, after all, isn't that what comrades are for?" Rize whispered, moving around Kaneki and over to the wary looking Thor, even as Kaneki's heart began to thunder faster, a roaring sound filling his ears and his vision beginning to blur._

 _"_ _I'm hungry!" Kaneki roared in fury, his voice barely intelligible, all sense of reason gone, as he threw himself towards Thor, ignoring the blonde 'gods' shout of surprise, as he stepped back and swung his hammer around. The mass of metal colliding with Kaneki's head with a thunderous crashing sound._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 6**

 **( - )**

 **(On the Helicarrier)**

It was the sound of rhythmic beeping that woke Kaneki up. His dull grey eyes snapping open and his breath exploding out of him in a rush. With bright light burned his retinas the moment he opened his eyes, blurring his vision for a moment as he looked around, his heart thundering in his chest and his breathes coming out in ragged gasps.

He was in a small, very clinical looking room, one which had reinforced metal walls on all four sides, like a prison, though there was a sheet of thick glass along one of the walls, with this acting as a window that looked out into another dull grey room adjacent to the one he was in at the moment.

Groaning slightly, and trying to force the beeping sound out of the nearby machine out of his pounding head, Kaneki sat up, his head throbbing slightly as he took more a bit time to inspect his surroundings.

He was in some kind of hospital room, he could tell that much from the heart monitor attached to him and beeping away next to his bed, and from what looked like a bag of blood on his other side, tubes running from the bag and into Kaneki's body as he lay on a small, metal framed cot in the centre of the room.

"Wha…?" Kaneki rasped out a few moments later, his head still aching slightly as he sat up properly now.

He didn't know where he was, or what was happening. The last thing he did in fact remember was fighting Banner, only it wasn't the nervous, meek Banner as he knew him, but instead his murderous, rage fuelled alter ego, the Hulk.

That was the last thing he remembered, the rest was all just blurred flashes of intense rage and hunger, and excruciating pain.

Thinking logically Kaneki assumed that he had lost his fight with the Hulk, the fact he was bedridden proved that much. Still he was also alive, and that had to count for something.

Taking solace in that fact, Kaneki made to get out of bed, his stomach grumbling lightly as he did so, though surprisingly not in hunger.

Only for him to find that it was impossible for him to get out of bed.

Looking down he soon worked out why.

He had been bound to the bed, thick, padded, chained metal restrains were bound around his ankles and wrists, binding him to the bed. With the placement of the chains making it so he could sit up, and move his arms and legs around a little, but not leave the bed.

Kaneki's face hardened as he took all this in. This had Fury written all over it.

"Fury." Kaneki spoke up, his still slightly raspy voice soft, but firm.

"I see you're finally awake." The dark skinned Director's voice replied, the man in question making himself known as he stepped into view safely behind the thick, glass window.

Kaneki didn't reply to that, instead he just sent Fury a cold look, before he then rattled the chains around binding his hands, and unamused look on his face. His question, though not verbalised, still quite obvious to SHIELD's.

"I have to say Kaneki, you made quite the impression in your fight with the Hulk, quite the impression indeed. It appears you have been holding back on your abilities, more in fact than even I had thought you were..." Fury continued, completely unperturbed by the way Kaneki's grey eyes coldly bored into him, his lip curling up revealing his strong, pearly white teeth.

"Your regenerative abilities for one. They are truly exceptional, perhaps the greatest I have ever seen, and I know some pretty exceptional people. I mean, you might be interested to know when they brought you in, your skull had been completely shattered and your brain damaged. The doctors thought you were a dead man. Or at least they did until your brain and skull fully reformed and regenerated in under a minute." Fury forged on, his arms held carefully behind his back as he continued to watch Kaneki curiously.

"Thor." Kaneki stated, a memory flashing into his head of the blonde Asgardian hitting him in the head with his massive hammer, Mjolnir. The memory was pretty blurred, and interspersed with feelings of intense anger and hunger, but having his head caved in did stand out a bit.

"Yes, it appears that after your fight with the Hulk, and probably due to your consumption of the Hulk's radioactive flesh, you lost all semblance of control you might once have had. I've seen the camera footage, you attacked and Thor defended himself, it's as simple as that." Fury nodded, his single visible eye boring into Kaneki, looking at him like a scientist would a particularly interesting specimen.

"Ok." Kaneki nodded, that made some sense. He remembered the burning feeling of the Hulk's flesh and the way it energised him and pushed his strength and abilities far beyond the norm. On top of that he remembered the way it seemingly enhanced his metabolism too. In fact by the time Thor had arrived he had been practically ravenous and completely out of control due to both his hunger and adrenaline.

"You didn't hurt or kill anyone directly, just in case you wanted to know." Fury continue on as if Kaneki hadn't spoken, his tone still blunt. "Other than Banner of course, but that could be attributed to extenuating circumstances. As for Thor, from what I saw on the cameras he seemed more amused than anything, and was able to put you down before you caused him much trouble. Not that it matters at the moment, as like Banner he's missing in action. Not because of you though, no, Loki tricked him into going into his prison cell not long after Thor had knocked Banner off of the Helicarrier and knocked you out, and then dropped him to the ground from over ten thousand feet."

Kaneki nodded at that, not too concerned about Banner, or Thor really either, as both of them could obviously look after themselves and were probably still alive from the way Fury was talking. Instead he focused on the first part of what Fury had said. "Directly?"

"Yes," Fury nodded unconcernedly. "There was collateral damage from your attempts to subdue Banner. At least a dozen god Agents were badly injured and three have already died. Those were mostly due to the Hulk though, so no direct blame is being attributed to you. Besides, those are just a few among the many casualties that came from the recent attack on the ship."

"An attack on the ship?" Kaneki asked, tilting his head to the side now, was that what had happened, he was still a little fuzzy on what had happened, what with things having been so sudden, and moving so quickly.

"Yes, it appears Loki was far more cunning than we had thought. Some subordinates of his, and the compromised Agent Barton, attacked the Helicarrier. They disabled one of the engines and invaded the bridge. And like I said before, during the commotion Loki escaped his cell and trapped his brother in it instead, though only after killing Phil Coulson." Fury paused as he said that, his gaze fixed on the stoic expression on Kaneki's face, as if he were looking for a sign of something.

Whether or not he saw what he wanted, Kaneki wasn't sure, either way it didn't deter him from continuing. "One good thing that came from this shit show though was that Agent Barton was turned back to our side, whatever mind control Loki was using to control him was broken, which is good news for us at the elast."

"Ok," Kaneki nodded, not really knowing who Barton was save for a vague memory of flipping through his profile and meeting him for all of a few minutes. He was some sort of archer or something. Phil Coulson though Kaneki did know, but not well enough to really feel any emotion, positive or negative, about his death. Not surprising considering he had only known the taciturn man for little more than a couple of days. "So why am I here?"

"For one so you can recover from your injuries in a secure location, at least until you return to consciousness and we can make sure you've regained control." Fury replied easily, before his tone intensified. "But also because we're doing some test on you. The abilities you showed, some believe they come from some kind of unique mutation, others though think they might be extra-terrestrial origin. Which basically means no one has a fucking clue what you are! And what that tells me, is that you are an unknown, and I don't like unknowns!"

Kaneki tilted his head to the side again as he heard that. "How long have I been in here?"

"Three hours, twenty three minutes, and as of this moment thirteen seconds." Fury replied immediately, not even glancing at a watch or a phone as he instead continued to keep his one visible eye on Kaneki. "You might be glad to know though, that in that time we have had you linked up to a special cocktail I had had made just for you before all this went down. It should have gone a long way to dealing with your hunger."

Kaneki cocked a brow at that, before he turned and looked at the blood bag.

"It's basically a human smoothie, ground up flesh, organs, blood and bone, everything a growing cannibal needs to get through the day." Fury continued in answer to Kaneki's look, his tone holding no judgement, as it instead held a kind of wry amusement to it. "Don't ask where we got the ingredients, it's classified."

Kaneki sent him a bland look at that. So that was what he was up to, feeding him aside, Fury wanted to know more about his physiology. That was troublesome but not unexpected considering what he knew about the man. That being said he was slightly bemused by the current theories on him, that he was either an alien like Thor, or a mutant. That being said, he genuinely didn't know the origins of Ghouls, so either of them could potentially be possible.

"And now I have woken and shown myself of sound mind I can leave?" Kaneki asked, not expecting the answer he wanted, but asking all the same.

Fury sent him a hard look as he heard that, clearly weighing him up. "The rest of the Avengers will soon be going after Loki once his location is found, and with Banner and Thor missing in action I wouldn't want to deprive them of another member of the team. Especially since they are in need of a powerhouse to round off the team's line up, and considering the way you went toe to toe with the Hulk and survived. Well, I can at least say you fit the bill."

"So I am free to go?" Kaneki asked again, wanting clarification now.

"For now yes, if you are ready you can suit up and join the rest when they head out." Fury replied slowly, clearing weighing up his words as he said them. The man no doubt thinking about what they already had on Kaneki, probably blood and tissue samples, among who knows what else, and whether that would be enough when compared to Kaneki himself.

Kaneki nodded at that, reading between the lines he assumed the situation was probably pretty grim. After all Fury despite his demeanour was clearly leery of him, but not apparently enough to keep him contained, not when Kaneki could be weaponised to use against the enemy.

A few moments later Fury must have pressed some button in the other room, as the restrains around Kaneki's wrists and ankles suddenly opened, the metal shackles sliding off of hem as Kaneki absentmindedly rubbed them. With the red marks around his wrists and ankles rapidly fading.

"You know where your locker is, another suit is waiting in there for you. The rest of the team will be setting off at any moment." Fury said, his gaze locked on Kaneki as he unsteadily got to this feet, his legs stumbling slightly as he moved for the door, which slid open automatically as he did so, his legs regaining strength and stability with every step.

"You think this is a good idea?" Maria Hill asked abruptly as she walked up so she was standing next to Fury, tearing her eyes away from the thin, white haired man as he headed out of the room, with her instead looking sideways at her boss.

"No, but with Banner gone and in the wind, Thor missing, and the Tesseract still in Loki's hands, they are going to need Kaneki. He went toe to toe with the Hulk and survived, and wounded Loki already. He will be indispensable." Fury said bluntly, not looking to his subordinate, as he instead opened up a holographic screen from the console in front of him. Flicking through the information the SHIELD doctor's had already obtained from the blood and tissue extracts they had taken.

With SHIELD being very well funded, and its science state of the art, the organisations researchers, scientists and doctors had been able to get a lot of information form the samples already. Not that the information provided many answers to his questions, instead it did the opposite, and made it so there more unanswered questions about Kaneki than before.

Kaneki it appeared was an anomaly, plain and simple. He was shown to have distinctly human DNA strands, though they also looked to be mutated, but not in the manner of usual mutants. Instead they were not able to find a specific genetically reason for his altered DNA and genes.

That being said they had found a match for some of the more obvious changes. For one they had managed to pick out some similarities between some of the strands of Kaneki's DNA and the DNA they had taken from Loki after his incarceration. More worryingly though, was the fact that his cells also appeared to be suffused with gamma radiation as well as Asgardian DNA, with this likely being from his consumption of the Hulk's flesh, which again, like with Loki, had seemingly caused his already unstable DNA to fluctuate and mutate even more than before.

What this would mean for him in the long term, well that was a complete unknown.

Personally though, Fury could only hope that they weren't looking at another Hulk, as that really would be the worst case scenario. After all what could be worse than a cannibalistic Hulk like creature that apparently could take on traits from whatever he ate?

Fury almost let out a dry chuckle at that thought, after all it reminded him of the old adage he'd heard in his youth, that 'you are what you eat', only with Kaneki that appeared more literal than figurative.

Honestly speaking they had no idea what Kaneki was, the best they had come up with was that he some kind of parasitic, genetically altered human being, an extra-terrestrial experiment gone wrong perhaps.

Truthfully what they had on him at the moment wasn't enough, nowhere near enough. Especially for someone as paranoid as Fury knew he was.

Except currently there were extenuating circumstances, Loki was walking around with a potential weapon of mass/ if not worldwide destruction, and with an allied horde of these Chitauri that Thor had spoken of just waiting to invade the earth.

That being said Fury wans't just letting him walk free without taking measures. He had safeguards in place after all, more particularly he had taken advantage of Kaneki's regenerative abilities and had had a tracker inserted into his skull, one which could be activated to send an electric shock through his brain if needs be.

Not that he would be telling Kaneki about it.

"He's unstable sir, honestly speaking I think until we know more about him he should be kept quarantined and as far away from the general public as possible." Maria Hill spoke up again.

Fury looked sideways at her as he heard that. "And normally I would agree. But for the moment, for the good of the world, he is needed."

Maria opened her mouth to retort to that, or at least she did until she saw the harsh expression on Fury's face. "Yes sir, I will notify the other Avengers that he will be joining them. Should I tell them what we've discovered about him too?"

"No, they do not need to know any more than I've already told them." Fury replied after a few moments. He had already given them a doctored account of what happened, brushing on Kaneki's abilities, but not going into too much depth, either on his possible psychological issues, or on what they had found from an examination of his DNA. "They know as much as they need too. See to it that they are ready to leave at any moment, Loki will be making his move soon. I can feel it!"

 **( - )**

 **(A little while later)**

Pulling on a pretty much identical black suit to the one he had had before, only without the customisation like the hood and outlining. Kaneki zipped it up to his chin, flexing his arms and legs after he did so, after which he grabbed a black mask he had also found in the locker, one which would completely cover his lower face from the nose down. With it also having the useful property of filtering the air he would be breathing, which in turn would protect him from poisonous gases, not that that was much of a problem for a Ghoul.

Eyeing up the rest of the equipment in his locker, Kaneki decided not to take any of it this time. Now that his abilities had been seen he really had no need to hide them, and so would not need any of the guns or knives in the locker. Especially since his hands and Kagune were deadlier than any normal human weapon.

Rolling his neck, Kaneki was just about to slam the door to his locker shut, before he froze. His grey eyes narrowing as he brought his hand up to his head, mussing up his white hair as he did so. His head was still throbbing, and the throbbing feeling wasn't fading. Having had a centipede stuck in their before, due to his torture at Jason's hands, Kaneki was pretty sensitive to these kind of things.

Licking his lips nervously, Kaneki's fingers twitched nervously as he opened the door to the locker more fully and looked in the mirror on the inside of the door.

Ignoring as he how his grey eyes now had odd green flecks in the irises, with him instead beginning to examine his head, pawing around with it as he tried to work out exactly where the throbbing feeling was coming from and whether there was any visible sign of what it was.

After a few moments of this, he found it. It was coming from the back of his skull, just above where his spine connected to his head.

Narrowing his eyes even further in thought, Kaneki traced his fingers over the spot on the back of his head. There was something in his head at that spot, he wasn't sure what, but he knew there was something there. He could feel it.

His eyes still narrowed, Kaneki dropped his hands to his side and slammed the door shut. Just as he knew there was something in his head, so too did he know the likely culprit. Nick Fury, the Director of SHIELD, it had to be him. Similarly he knew that the very same man was likely watching him even now, on the many hidden cameras the spymaster probably had dotted around the ship.

Twitching his fingers, Kaneki licked his lips again before he made his decision and, headed out of the room. After which he began to make his way to the meeting room, where Maria had told him the other Avengers were currently waiting for Loki to resurface. Most of them apparently brooding over the recent attack on the ship, and the fall out that had come from it.

Walking through the ship, despite wearing the standard SHIELD uniform now, Kaneki quickly noticed that the other Agents were all skirting around him, or eyeing him cautiously as he passed. All of them swiftly and silently moving out of his way as he walked slowly down the corridors. Clearly they had heard of what had gone off between him and the Hulk, even if it was an abridged version.

Narrowing his eyes at that, Kaneki ignored them and continued on down the hallways until he arrived at the conference room Maria Hill had directed him to.

With the room in question being occupied already, as both Tony and Steve sat at the table with glum looks on their faces. Whilst Natasha was standing off to one side, talking quietly to a blonde man, one who Kaneki recognised as being Clint Barton, aka 'Hawkeye'.

"Well look who it is, still alive then?" Tony was the first to speak up, a wane smile on his face as Kaneki entered the room, the others all looking up as he did so.

"Kaneki, I glad to see you're okay. We heard you tried to hold off Banner by yourself when he turned into the Hulk." Steve spoke up next, a look of grudging respect on his face as he sat straighter and looked over at Kaneki, his previous discomfort with Ken's cannibalistic tendencies set aside for the time being. "That was brave of you, putting your life on the line for others."

Kaneki cocked his eyebrow at that, before he looked to the calm looking Romanov in the corner, who like Barton hadn't spoken yet, with both of them instead just giving Kaneki wary, analysing looks. "You make it sound like I had a choice…"

Steve frowned as he heard that, before he sat up and looked between the stoic Kaneki and the inscrutable Romanov as the two of them locked eyes, emerald green boring into Kaneki's now green flecked grey eyes.

"Well this is awkward…" Tony chipped in next, his smile growing slightly as he looked almost eagerly between the red head and the cannibal. "It sounds like someone threw you under the bus Ken, or rather the Hulk I suppose in this case?"

"I made a snap decision based on the facts. The Hulk was too strong and fast for me to deal with. Kaneki meanwhile is both stronger and faster, and from what I know of his abilities was more capable of surviving the Hulk, and keeping him busy until help could arrive, than I was. By the looks of it my decision was the correct one." Natasha spoke up, her tone not holding a hint of remorse.

"Oh, now that right there, that's just cold!" Tony said, his smile widening even further. "And your rebuttal Kaneki!"

"She made her decision, and she stands by it." Said Kaneki after a couple of moments of thought, neither his voice nor face holding any condemnation, or giving away any of his internal irritation. "That's just her nature."

Natasha flinched almost imperceptibly at his words.

"Wait what, that's it! She uses you and leaves you to be the Hulk's chew toy and you just shrug it off! Where's the fun in that!?" Tony complained, looking around as Barton sent Natasha a slight frown.

Natasha didn't reply to Stark's comments, instead she maintained her eye contact with Kaneki. Whilst Steve just looked on in shock.

"You abandoned your comrade?! You just used him as a distraction knowing that he would likely die!" Steve asked shocked, finally getting Natasha's attention as she tore her gaze from the still stoic Kaneki, as she instead looked into Captain America's naive, baby blue eyes.

"I made a difficult decision based on the facts available to me. I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand." Natasha retorted coolly, before she looked over at Tony. "And I wouldn't be so quick to 'shit stir' Stark, not when you hardly acquitted yourself brilliantly."

Tony frowned as he heard that, and opened his mouth to retort. With Steve also frowning as he turned to the attractive red head, none to happy with her comments about him either.

Before anybody could say anything else though they were all distracted by the door to the room opening again, with Director Fury and Maria Hill entering the room, both of them looking grim.

"Fury!" Said Steve, standing up as the dark skinned man came to a stop and looked around at the five other people in the room.

"You're all still arguing and bickering like children." Fury spoke up immediately, looking around at the five people present. "The enemy just walks into our base, frees our prisoner and kills our people, and you're all just sitting around arguing and feeling sorry for yourselves!"

Steve scowled at that, but lowered his head slightly and looked away from Fury. Tony meanwhile opened his mouth to make a quip or a comment, only to close it moments later when Fury's furious gaze flickered over to him. Barton and Natasha meanwhile just looked on, both of them sharing a look but saying nothing more.

As for Kaneki he just watched on with disinterest, the cynical part of his mind pondering just what Fury was planning now.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket when he was stabbed. It looks like he never did get you to sign them," Nick Fury continued on, tossing the Captain America trading cards Phil Coulson had been obsessed with onto the table.

All of them looked down at the still blood stained cards, with Steve picking one up glumly and looking at it. A slight sigh leaving his lips, as he sent the card a forlorn look before he looked back up at Fury.

'Emotional manipulation, classy…' Kaneki thought dryly as he looked around the room and the back at Fury. From what he knew of the man he found himself unsurprised that he would sink this low.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor… I have got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming," Nick Fury continued, his tone seemingly sincere as the others all listened on. After which he took a deep breath and spoke again, his tone getting louder this time. "Yes, SHIELD was going to use the Tesseract to build an arsenal of weapons. However, I never put all my chips on that, because I was playing something even riskier."

The five of them shared some glances at that, before focusing back on Fury as he walked around the table.

"There was an idea. A simple idea I had, Stark already knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The plan was to bring together a group of remarkable people and see if they could become something extraordinary. To see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, and fight the battles we never could. Phil Coulson still believed in that idea. In heroes." Fury said fiercely, once again looking around and meeting everyone's gaze, even Kaneki as he cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head.

Did Fury include Kaneki in that, or Banner, both of them were monsters after all, how could a monster ever be a hero?

A moments silence followed Fury's speech, before Stark suddenly got up and walked away, swiftly leaving the room without a word.

"Yeah well, it's an old fashion notion," Fury said as he watched Stark leave, with Rogers getting up and quickly following after him. Leaving it so it was just Kaneki, Natasha, Barton, Fury and Hill in the room. But only for a moment, before Fury and Hill left, leaving only three.

A silence followed after their exit, with Kaneki looking over to Natasha, who for just a moment looked like she was about to say something, only to then fall silent. Barton meanwhile made a move.

"It's Ken Kaneki isn't it?" Barton stated more than asked, walking forwards his hand outstretched.

Looking down at the hand, Kaneki paused for a moment before he reached out and took it, in a quick but firm handshake. "Yes."

"We've met before, though I suppose we didn't really speak." Barton pressed on, stepping back after the two of them broke their handshake.

"Yes, I remember. You didn't look too… comfortable, with my… habits." Kaneki eventually replied, his gaze switching back over to the silent, but still present Romanov. The woman still hadn't apologised for lumbering him with the Hulk, nor did he think she would, not from what he had seen of her so far anyway.

"Ha, well can you blame me. It's not exactly a normal, or well… pleasant thing. Still I hope we can make a fresh start." Barton said, shifting with discomfort but not breaking eye contact.

"Why not." Kaneki nodded after a moment.

"Great, well it'll be good to work with you, especially now I'm no longer being mind controlled…" Barton laughed weakly, obviously trying to wave away recent happenings with humour. Though from the way the skin around his eyes tightened, his heart thundered in his chest and hands twitched, Kaneki could see he wasn't as fine as he was pretending.

"Kaneki." Natasha finally spoke up, talking into the slightly more content silence that followed Barton's words.

Kaneki turned to look at her.

Before she could speak though, conversation was once again interrupted by someone barging into the room. Only this time it was Captain America, and he had something important to say. Something that all those present needed to act on immediately.

"Loki's in New York, he's about to make his move. Everyone get ready, we need to go now!"

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what did you all think? I hope you enjoyed it. It was a bit tricky to write, especially writing Nick Furys part.**

 **Thanks for reading, hope you favourite, follow or review.**

 **Catch you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey all, been a while hasn't it! Yeah sorry about that, I have had most of this chapter written for ages, I just got distracted with other things and never really had the inclination to sit down for an hour and finish it off. Until now that is! Which is why you're getting a update. I hope you all enjoy it and leave a review. Thus far the support for the story has been great, and I hope you all continue to enjoy my writing!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Avenger and the extended MCU. Which by the way is now ridiculously big, like insanely so!**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _Great, well it'll be good to work with you, especially now I'm no longer being mind controlled…" Barton laughed weakly, obviously trying to wave away recent happenings with humour. Though from the way the skin around his eyes tightened, his heart thundered in his chest and hands twitched, Kaneki could see he wasn't as fine as he was pretending._

 _"_ _Kaneki." Natasha finally spoke up, talking into the slightly more content silence that followed Barton's words._

 _Kaneki turned to look at her._

 _Before she could speak though, conversation was once again interrupted by someone barging into the room. Only this time it was Captain America, and he had something important to say. Something that all those present needed to act on immediately._

 _"_ _Loki's in New York, he's about to make his move. Everyone get ready, we need to go now!"_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 7**

 **(With Kaneki)**

"We're approaching the city, and by the looks of it, it's really lighting up out there," Clint Barton, or using his alias, Hawkeye, said abruptly, as both he and Natasha sat in the front seats of the speeding Quinjet. One or other of them piloting the small, but fast, craft as they powered their way towards New York City. The other members of the Avengers all waiting patiently in the back.

Or nearly all of them, Kaneki thought as another voice quickly replied to Clint's sombre announcement.

"Somewhat stating the obvious there Robin Hood." Stark quipped, his voice holding a jovial tone to it as he flew alongside the Quinjet in his high-tech battle suit. The billionaire obviously seeing the same thing they were, which is to say the giant sky beam that at present was erupting from the top of Stark Towers, his own building. With the beam itself shooting up into the sky, and opening up a colossal portal in the area directly above Manhattan, a portal which even from here they could see space and stars through.

Rolling his neck, Kaneki narrowed his grey eyes as he saw countless small and indistinct figures erupting forth from out of the portal, all of them then hurtling down from portal and into the busy metropolis below.

To use Stark's words, it looked like they were late to the party. Loki's plan, for what else could this be, was already in full swing, and by the looks of it an entire alien army was descending on the densely populated American city.

No doubt the casualties were through the roof, and that was just from the vanguard of the alien invasion alone. Mundane police officers weren't exactly suited to dealing with this kind of phenomena, or at least not in this world.

In Kaneki's own world they were slightly better, after all they had had to adjust and adapt through the ages to the existence of Ghouls, the supernatural, alpha predators. Inhuman beings that had haunted human kind, probably ever since they took their first steps.

"Everyone get ready, we're going to need to hit them hard and fast from the very beginning!" Steve Rogers spoke up, ignoring Stark's comment as he instead stepped forward, still clad in his classic Captain America uniform, his brightly coloured, vibranium shield already on his arm twisted to look out of the window, his foot tapping away impatiently on the floor as he did so.

"Stark, we're at your three o'clock, heading northwest," Romanoff spoke up next, her tone stiff and tense as she easily manoeuvred the small craft between the city's many skyscrapers.

Kaneki stood up and prowled over to the front of the aircraft as he heard that, absentmindedly reaching up and stroking the area on the back of his head, the place in which he knew a tracker, or some kind of device, was implanted.

He still had questions over how Fury had even managed to do such a thing, considering how Ghoul's had supernatural durability, something which coupled perfectly with their other highly enhanced physical abilities. But that was a thought for another time, for now he would need to rip the device out of his skull, sooner rather than later.

Pushing that thought away for the moment, Kaneki looked up at the giant sky beam ahead of them, the blue beam reflecting back in his cold, grey eyes as they got ever closer.

Already he had noticed the thousands of little figures streaming out of the portal on what looked like flying scooter. But, right at that moment, as he looked up at the portal, he could see something much, much bigger emerging.

From what he could see, it looked like some kind of gigantic, brownish grey worm like creature. One which had a brutish lizard like skull, and a colossal a maw, one that was full of numerous, sharp, yellow teeth. With the creature also noticeably having a thick, segmented, armoured, carapace like shell.

"Trouble." Kaneki muttered, ignoring the way Black Widow tensed as he spoke up from right beside her. The red head flinching, as if she had just now noticed how close he had gotten as he stared out of the Quinjet's front window and up at the portal.

"You're telling me, what are those things?" Captain America added, walking over so he was standing next to Kaneki, not paying attention to the Ghoul as he instead watched the giant, airborne leviathan erupt forth from the portal, after which it dived down into the city below, smashing through cranes and skyscrapers as it went, causing untold damage as it barrelled through the anything that got in its way.

Looking away from the rampaging beast, Kaneki quickly noted that several more of the creatures were emerging from the portal just like the first. The leviathans flying alongside the human sized aliens as they swept over the city of New York.

"That doesn't matter at the moment. No, what matters is destroying these things and protecting the city!" With that said, Stark shot forward, fire erupting forth from his boots, even as he began to engage the flying alien crafts that were flitting throughout the city.

The billionaire, using his robotic, battle suit to immediately unleash a rain of fire on the nearest Chitauri. With him gunning down a dozen over the course of a minutes in his first pass, even as he unleashed another dozen or so projectiles, each of which shot through the air, leaving trails of smoke, before they exploded. Expanding Stark's kill count all the while as he used the boasters in his hands and feet to shoot around the city, his small size and suit easily allowing him to outmanoeuvre his opponents.

Seeing what was going off, Natasha angled the Quinjet around, opening the back doors as she swept lower to the ground, angling the aircraft as she did so, so that the high-powered, Gatling gun on the front was now pointing diagonally across the city.

After which she activated the sips weapon systems, a stream of bullets strafing through several dozen flying Chitauri 'chariots/ scooters' or whatever they were, as they flew by. Her actions causing several of these crafts to explode, pitching the alien warriors into the air, some of them already dead from the strafing bullets, whilst others were still alive and screaming as they plunged down to the earth below.

"Try to find Loki. He's is the commander of this army. If we want to stop these invaders then we will need to take him out first!" Thor said loudly, his deep voice and powerful presence drawing the attention of the occupants of the aircraft as he did so. All of those present turning to the Prince of Asgard as he grabbed his hammer and prepared to jump out of the Quinjet.

"What will you do?" Steve asked, even as Natasha continued to fly them through the air, the Gatling gun still spinning and rotating as they continued to gun down the invading aliens.

"I will deal with the portal, a bit of lightning should stop the invaders from coming through!" With that said Thor began spinning his hammer in his hand, sparing Kaneki, Rogers, Romanov and Barton a single glance and a curt nod, before he leapt out of the back of the Quinjet and released his hammer, shooting up into the air and in the direction of Stark Tower, his red cloak whipping around behind him.

"A good plan. While Thor bottlenecks the portal, and Natasha and I take down the airborne aliens, you lot need to move quickly to protect the people!" Stark's voice came in over the communicator, the man in question shooting past in a red and gold blur as he continued to pursue swarms of other flying aliens, gunning them down as he did so.

"He's right, our main aim here must be to protect the citizens." Steve nodded, his brow furrowing as he clutched onto a handle overhead to steady himself, even as they hurtled through the city.

"No, you were right before, we need to hit them hard, and hit them first. The first thing we'll need to do is as Thor said, take down Loki and close the portal." Natasha interrupted, her tone tense as she continued to operate the Quinjet's weapons system, even as Barton took over steering the craft through the city's streets.

"We split up then," Steve said with a grunt, a frown passing across his face at having his authority questioned, something which had likely not happened back when he was leading his squad, the Howling Commandoes, back during the Second World War. "Thor bottlenecks the portal, Stark and Nat keep the airborne aliens off of our backs and try and find Loki, Barton, Kaneki and I meanwhile protect the citizens, and respond the moment we managed to lock onto Loki's positon!"

Kaneki sent the Captain a flat look at that, not that Steve noticed or looked over at him. Instead he continued to talk to the others, hashing out some ramshackle plan that would likely fall apart within minute of it being put into operation.

Genuinely, this team, if you could call this collection of powered and skill individuals such a thing, needed a leader. At present, Thor, the ancient, Prince of Asgard, Stark, the billionaire CEO, Barton, the highly trained SHIELD agent, and Captain America, the former captain of a Special Forces unit, were all battling for command.

From the outside it might look like it was working. But honestly, from where Kaneki was stood, there was no cohesion. Instead everyone was giving out different orders, and different suggestions, some of which were incredibly contradictory.

"Right, the main fighting is at Stark Tower. I'll taking us in for a closer look." Barton spoke up, pulling the Quinjet up, even as Natasha continued to control the weapons system.

"Okay fine, you three head to Stark Towers and find Loki, I will look to the people!" Captain Rogers replied decisively, his shield in hand as she gave the others a nod, before he then turned, and leapt out of the back of the craft, without a parachute.

"Wait… god dammit!" Barton muttered, looking around only to see that the Captain was already gone.

"It's fine, he knows what he's doing. They all do." Natasha said quietly, not even looking from what she was doing as she still managed to calm Clint.

"Your right, I just don't like the idea of separating, not when Loki still has that staff, the one that can enslave people's minds! I don't want what happened to me, to happen to them too!" Barton grumbled to Natasha, their conversation seeming oddly personal, as if they had forgotten that Kaneki, and Kaneki alone was still present.

"It'll be fine." Natasha said softly, looking to Barton now for a moment, before her green eyes flickered to the side and over to Kaneki. Green meeting grey for a moment, before she quickly looked away.

Looking away from the other two in the jet, Kaneki instead glanced out at the still open door, his head tilting his head to the side in curiousity at the scenery and carnage that flashed past, even as the Quinjet continued to fly higher, the weapons system still blazing as they gunned down anything that got in their path as they headed for the now quite close, Stark Tower.

Looking back to the front of the craft, and through the window, Kaneki was now also able to see lighting erupting from the tallest and closest tower to the portal. Massive branches of the white energy, tearing through the air, exploding forth from Thor's hammer as he pulled it down from the surrounding dark skies above, before then redirected it at the portal, effectively bottlenecking the passage into this world as the unstable energy ripped through the descending aliens and even forced the colossal leviathans to stop.

Likewise Iron Man was occasionally visible in his red and gold armour as he rapidly flew through the city, chasing down rogue aliens, and even at one point taking down one of the leviathans, explosions erupting all around him as he unleashed hell on the invaders. His high tech suit releasing excessive amount of missiles and explosives, as the Da Vinci of Death, another title for the famous weapons designer, finally put his craft to some good.

Honestly, from where Kaneki was stood, things were chaotic, and were getting more so the closer they got to the tower and thus the portal.

In fact, even as Kaneki watched, he saw two chariots appear behind the Quinjet. Both of them shooting through the air as they pursued the aircraft, releasing beam like attacks of pure energy as they did so, one of which managed to strike the jet in the back, causing the entire structure to shake, even as one of the turbines on the wing exploded. Flames and great gouts of fire erupting forth form the engine, even as the aircraft struggled to stay in the air.

"Shit, we're hit! Everyone brace yourselves, we're going down!" Clint shouted, even as he gripped the shaking controls of the Quinjet. Fuck, we'll all need to bail!"

With that said Natasha was out of her seat in moments, with Clint soon following after her as they grabbed their kit and ran for the exit. Even as another shot hit the shaking, smoking jet. The jet which, now there was no longer anyone at the controls, was spiralling in the air as it flew completely out of control.

Glancing between the two humans as they made to leap out of the back of the aircraft, Kaneki grit his teeth and ran after them. His kagune erupting out of his lower back in twin tendrils, looping around both of their waists as Kaneki then leapt out of the back of the jet, moments before it crashed into a nearby building. Sheering through the windows and several floors before it exploded. The impact of the crash causing the entire six storey structure to being to collapse.

Ignoring this though, Kaneki instead concentrated on landing. Though not on the ground, as he instead landed on the front of one of the chariots, two more green flecked, red tendrils erupting forth from the small of his back and skewing the two panicking Chitauri on the chariots as he did so. After which Kaneki then deposited both Natasha and Clint on the still moving, airborne vehicle without a word.

No, instead his attention was on the other chariot, which even as he watched flew nearby. The two angry looking aliens on it, gesturing at him, even as one of them brought its weapon to bare on the white haired ghoul.

"Kaneki..!" Natasha began as she grabbed the aircraft's odd looking controls, while Clint pulled out his bow and arrow, readying himself for battle as he drew an odd looking arrow and aimed at the other, now very close alien craft.

Kaneki though ignored her, as he instead, with a sudden burst of strength and startling agility, leapt from the chariot he was on, over ten metres onto the other craft. His right hand thrusting forward, and through one of the shocked looking alien's chest, killing it in an instant as he ripped it out moments later, pulling out a bunch of dark, blue looking entrails as he did so.

After which Kaneki twisted to the other one, releasing the entrails as his another hand, held out like a knife blade, whipped round in a sweeping strike, landing in the juncture between the creatures head and shoulder with a sickening crunch. His hand breaking bone and exoskeleton even as it tore the creature's head clear off of it's body.

It's ugly helmeted head falling down the earth below, bouncing off of a nearby building, before it amusingly clattered down an open manhole cover as they shot past.

It seemed he managed to get a hole in one.

Kaneki had to hide a slight smile at that strange thought, as he instead looked over and saw the tense expressions on both Clint and Natasha's face as the now driverless vehicle drifted away, losing heath and momentum as it now no longer had anyone operating it.

"Go!" Kaneki shouted across the gap to the other chariot.

Before, without even bothering to wait for a response, Kaneki instead kicked the impaled body of one of the creatures off of the craft, after which he grabbed the very simplistic looking controls for the craft.

He might not be a tech genius of Tony Stark's calibre, but he was smart enough, and intuitive enough to work out how to operate such a simple craft. After all if Natasha could do it, then so could he.

With that in mind he wrenched the vehicle upwards, the airborne chariot lurching to obey, as he now headed up and in the direction of the top floor of Stark Towers. With Kaneki absentmindedly taking a bite out of the other dead Chitauri, the headless one slumped that was slumped over the craft right beside him, as he did so.

More out of curiousity than anything, as he just wanted to find out what it tasted like.

Moments later though he grimaced, his decision had unfortunately turned out to be a mistake. The creature tasted vile and disgusting, so much so that the white haired Ghoul grabbed the dead thing by the throat and hurled it down into the streets below in disgust.

Honestly, the vile looking creature, tasted about as pleasant as it looked. Kind of like what he would imagined a raw and rotting cockroach would taste like. Which was basically to say, it tasted just plain nasty.

Still, in spite of that, the humanoid creature was still strangely edible, disgusting, but just about palatable. At present though he hunger for sweet flesh, if he was minded after the end of the invasion, he might try another bite, but for now he had more important things on his mind.

With that thought in mind Kaneki continued his ascent, the other two having disappeared by this point, vanishing off into the chaotic city, as they, like the rest of the team, just did their own thing. Be it killing the invaders, saving the local citizens, or attempting to track down Loki in order to close the portal, and thus stop the invasion.

A couple of minutes later, after a harrowing, white knuckled, nearly death-defying journey straight up the side of the tower on one of the alien's chariots, Kaneki gladly, almost gleefully, leapt off of the chariot and onto a nearby platform. The now empty vehicle itself whipping past him, shooting a few more metres into the air from it's maintained momentum, before gravity took hold and it fell back down to earth.

Rolling as he landed, so that he quickly regained his footing, Kaneki soon found himself on the Stark Tower penthouse's balcony, Tony's current home.

A large round area, complete with a lots of glass and white metal, along with some futuristic looking architecture, all of which led up to the glass covered main apartment, which in and of itself was just a dozen or so metres below the roof, and thus just below the source of the portal opening sky beam.

It was only a few moments after he arrived on the balcony though, his gaze naturally sweeping around his surroundings, that he soon found his attention drawn elsewhere. With the sounds of the battle far below echoed in his ears, as Iron Man, Captain America, and likely Black Widow and Hawkeye too, all fought against the alien invasion. Meanwhile, Thor continued to bottleneck the portal, his loud bellows still audible above the sounds of battle, as even he, a Norse god/ alien, or whatever the hell an Asgardian was, began to flag, as the exhaustion of continuously using his lightning began to hit him.

Shifting his head about, his nostrils flaring, Kaneki soon locked onto a new, yet, familiar scent, and it wasn't Tony Stark, despite this being his home. No, he recognised this scent as belonging to his foe, Loki.

He could recognise the Asgardian's cold, enticing scent with ease, after all it was so unique. With it being a scent, so different from Thor's in many ways, but also so similar in its complexity, and in the power and might that it seemed to embody.

Twisting his head, Kaneki's grey eyes landed on the god in question, the green flecks in his irises flaring as he naturally, almost instinctively, began to prowl forwards. The sounds of battle now muted, along with the voices of his teammates in his head, especially after he pulled the communicator out of his ear and dropped it on the floor. The small earbud crunching as he absentmindedly stepped on it, his fingers twitching for a moment.

Before a resounding crack echoed across the balcony, as Kaneki cracked his middle finger with his thumb. His heart racing faster all of a sudden, creating a pounding noise which filled his ears, even as he felt saliva beginning to build up in his mouth.

Hearing the crack, Loki glanced over at him as he advanced, a sneer spreading across the god's face as he hefted his spear like sceptre, his golden horned helmet glinting in the midday sun, as too did the many buckles and pieces of armour that decorated his gaudy, green, leather outfit. His long, green cloak blowing about behind him somewhat theatrically as he stepped outside of the apartment and out onto the balcony.

"And so the monster appears…" Loki drawled, his hand clenching his sceptre tighter as he did so, even as one end of it dug into the floor beneath him, causing the metal beneath his feet to warp and bend slightly, even as he curled his lip and sneered at Kaneki, disgust and hatred clearly present in his icy, cold eyes.

Clearly Loki hadn't forgiven him for the whole 'ripping off and eating his ear' thing.

Licking his lips at the sudden memory of that tasty morsel, Kaneki prowled forwards. Allowing all four of his kagune to slowly, but surely, push out of his back. Glorying in the sudden twinge of pain he received as they tore themselves free flesh, all four of them rising into the air, before they hung there, just above him, like hungry, coiled snakes just waiting to strike.

"I'll be honest, I would have thought that Stark was the one that would arrive here first. Especially after the indignity of having his home, his sanctuary, not only usurped, but weaponised against him." Loki continued, his tone mocking as he came to a stop, his flinty, cold, blue eyes locking with Kaneki's hungry, green flecked grey ones. "Still it matters not whether it be you or whether it be Stark, either way you will both be dead by the end of the day."

"You're confident." Kaneki said softly, his head cocking to one side as he eyed Loki up and down, his kagune quivering slightly in excitement, all four tendrils pulsing with red and green energy.

A low growling noise, sounding quite audibly as the two faced off against one another.

 **( - )**

Loki cocked an eyebrow at the sound, before he frowned. Kaneki's expression hadn't changed, nor had he opened his mouth, nor had noticeably made a sound. Or at least, he hadn't made a sound via his mouth. Looking down at the white haired teen's stomach though, Loki's eye twitched when he heard yet another, gurgling growl sound out.

"I'm hungry…" Kaneki said in explanation.

Loki's eye twitched yet again at that comment, his free hand unconsciously moving to his helmet head as he glared at the odd, white haired mortal, his lip curling again, even as rage filled his being. "Well, I am not a snack…!"

 **( - )**

Kaneki's lip twitched upward as he heard that, even as he saw both a flicker of revulsion and rage, and maybe, was that a hint of fear that he also saw appear on Loki's haughty, regal features.

 _"_ _So he says beloved, but we both know that isn't the case don't we…"_ Rize's soft melodious voice suddenly cooed, the purple haired beauty appearing behind the scowling Loki as she did so, both arms leisurely draped, almost tenderly, over the Norse god's broad shoulders, even as her long, purple hair trailed down one side of his torso, her head absentmindedly leaning on her own arms as she gazed seductively, sensually, at Kaneki. _"Everyone is our prey beloved, everyone is our victim. We are the ultimate predator, the perfect killer. It is in our nature to destroy and consume, just as it is in humanities nature. Only in our case well,"_ Here Rize's lips curled into a wicked smile. _"Humanity is exactly what we prey on…"_

"Yes..." Kaneki nodded, tugging his buff down so as to reveal his entire face, even as one of his eyes turned a burning, crimson colour, a colour which was noticeably shot through with glowing, angry, emerald green flecks, the sclera also noticeably turning completely black, accentuating the change in his iris, as it did so, even as the veins around his eyes darkened and became clearly visible to the naked eye.

 **( - )**

"Yes?" Loki queried nervously, taking a step back now as he saw the furious, almost bestial look on Kaneki's now demonic face. The four tendrils behind him flicking about furiously, the pulsating intensifying now.

Taking a step back, Loki shook his head, even as he saw the same greenish, red energy that made up Kaneki's tentacles slowly spreading from the small of the teen's back, across the white haired teen's torso and then slowly up his neck.

The energy then seemingly cooling to become a blackened, spiked carapace of sorts. The tendrils themselves were also noticeably becoming thicker, longer, spikier and more, wing like as the energy coming off of Kaneki spread, the tips of the tendrils now twisting and curling into spiked, bladed hooks.

"W-what… what in oblivion's name are you?" Loki hissed, completely taken aback by this sudden, unnatural metamorphosis, as Kaneki hunched over, his eyes gleaming with both hunger and madness, even as the carapace that covered his body became more streamline, and formfitting, the appearance become distinctly insect like now.

With the energy, by this point, having also covered most of Kaneki's upper body in a spiked, armoured shell, even as it trailed down his legs and up his neck, forming yet more segmented armour as it did so. With the energy around his hands noticeably morphing into razor sharp, blackened claws, the nails extending several inches, even as spikes and thorn like protrusions erupted forth from the now inhuman looking teen's arms and legs.

"I'm…" Kaneki began, his voice as rough, bestial and insane as he now looked, even as he hunched over, his claw like hands gouging easily into the several inch thick metal beneath him. "Hungry!"

"Shit…" Loki hissed, his blue eyes widening as he realised exactly what that meant, even as Kaneki suddenly exploded forwards.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? Intially I was going to try to run through the whole battle of New York thing in one chapter. But then I decided not too, it would have either made the chapter too long, or it would have been lacking in detail, and a pretty all round, rushed chapter. Hernce why I split it up, that and I also wanted to get this chapter out after having waited so long between updates.**

 **So yes, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and continue to read and review. If you have any specific questions etc. please feel free to PM me. If not I hope you continue to support the story, and give some of my other ones ago if you have the time.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll catch you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey all, so there was a fantastic response on the last chapter, truly amazing! So I want to thank you all for your support, reviews and encouragement, I really appreciate it. It's part of what makes publishing stuff on this website worth it, the fact that people appreciate your ideas and enjoy them too. That and to hear ideas from other people who share interests in the same fandoms as me, and to fine tune your writing so you can keep improving.**

 **So yes, thanks a lot, I really appreciate it, and I hope you all continue to support this story, and enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, the MCU or Tokyo Ghoul. If I did then I would have tried to make the last few seasons of the Tokyo Ghoul anime far more satisfying!**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _With the energy, by this point, having also covered most of Kaneki's upper body in a spiked, armoured shell, even as it trailed down his legs and up his neck, forming yet more segmented armour as it did so. With the energy around his hands noticeably morphing into razor sharp, blackened claws, the nails extending several inches, even as spikes and thorn like protrusions erupted forth from the now inhuman looking teen's arms and legs._

 _"_ _I'm…" Kaneki began, his voice as rough, bestial and insane as he now looked, even as he hunched over, his claw like hands gouging easily into the several inch thick metal beneath him. "Hungry!"_

 _"_ _Shit…" Loki hissed, his blue eyes widening as he realised exactly what that meant, even as Kaneki suddenly exploded forwards._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 8**

 **( - )**

 **(Manhattan, New York)**

The streets of central New York were completely and utterly chaotic, more so than usual. Truly it was horrific. There were abandoned vehicles strewn all over the roads, most of whose drivers had already fled. Fleeing the ongoing alien onslaught, as the extra-terrestrial monsters murdered through the streets killing and crippled anyone they came across, even whilst others darkened the skies.

Similarly, debris from partially destroyed skyscrapers and towers blocks were also spread all over the area, bits and pieces of rubble, shattered glass, metal struts and detritus still falling, even as the citizens fled. Some of them crawling over mounds of dead and dying bodies, as they attempted to succeed in fleeing, where so many others, like those they crawled over, hadn't.

Even now an hour or so into the invasion, a few remaining civilians were still weaving through the cars and wreckage, and passing by makeshift police barricades which were being through up around the city. Behind which officers, and soldiers were waiting, their guns trained on both the airborne aliens' overhead, and those that were now sprinting through the streets, weapons in hands as they laid waste to anything in their path.

Already several of these defensive positons had been overrun, some of them before they could even be finished, as the horde of murderous aliens proved themselves not only stronger and faster than the average human, but also much better armed, and much more deadly. Their alien tech putting the average police officer and army personnel's weaponry to shame.

Though considering that this was an invasion force, and all of these aliens were likely veteran soldiers of whatever world they came from, maybe it wasn't surprising that run of the mill police officers, civilians and soldiers were being overwhelmed.

Already thousand, maybe even tens of thousands, were dead by this point. Despite the glowing space portal far above the city, having only been open for probably less than an hour. With hundreds, if not thousands, more being butchered and cut down every minute as the aliens zipped through the air on the backs of their chariots, blasting away at buildings, and large clusters of people.

The maundering hordes spreading ever outwards as they spread carnage and destruction throughout the densely packed city.

All the while the Leviathans, the colossal, armoured worm like monsters, continued to barrel through the city, tearing through buildings like a hot knife through butter, and all the while depositing yet more land based troops into the streets. Ignoring the fleeing humans as they instead focused on depositing more ground troops, that and destroying and levelling as much of the city as they could.

Things were bad, and unfortunately they were likely to only get even worse too, as overhead, near the portal itself, more aliens could now be seen swarming out of the rift in space and descending down into the city below.

The seemingly unending bolt of lightning that had previously been containing them, bottlenecking them within the portal, having weakened to the point that dozens of alien chariots were shooting through the portal by the second and down into the city, even as the trapped Leviathans started to push outwards.

It appeared that even Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, didn't have unending stamina and energy reserves. Not that the Asgardian god himself seemed to realise this, as instead of letting up on his lightning, or resting, he instead continued to let out deafening roars, even as he drew yet more lightning down from the dark clouds overhead and redirected it into the portal.

The man/ god was struggling, that much was, because as he used his hammer, Mjolnir, to redirect the lighting, his every breath became laboured, and blood began to trickle from his mouth, staining his blonde beard red as it mixed with the streams of sweat pouring down his face.

Not that Thor was the only one in trouble, the other Avengers were all also in a bit of a bind too. As Captain America was currently on foot, sweat pouring down his face, and his uniform already bloodied, with both his blood and his enemies, as he ran through the streets of New York.

With the Super Soldier smashing aside any alien that got in his way with his vibranium shield, as he tried to cover as many retreating civilians as he could.

With the Captain often times taking a detour so as to either save groups of civilians, or to meet up with, and direct, the occasional groups of beleaguered police officers and soldiers in the streets. Some of whom he tried to temporarily combine forces with so that he could help to protect as many innocents as he could.

Though he was not always alone in his efforts, as every now and then a gun toting citizen also helped out, some of them using their handguns and the like to harry the aliens where they could. Their small calibre weapons not doing much in the grand scheme of things against the fast moving, airborne aliens, and the Leviathans, but helping out when it came to thinning the grounded aliens out.

Or at least it did initially, after the first few shots though all they did was garner the attention of the invading alien horde, which more often than not led to said civilian either being butchered, along with others who fought back, or having to be rescued by either the Captain, or one of the other roaming Avengers.

And speaking of the other Avengers, as the Captain ran through the streets helping with the evacuation and strengthening the city's defences where he could. Iron Man continued to blitz through the city taking out as many flying aliens as he could, and even one of the gigantic Leviathans at one point too.

Though the collateral damage from the colossal, several thousand tonne alien monstrosity hitting the ground put pay to too much celebration at that feat. After all two skyscrapers were completely annihilated by the falling beast, and hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians, either those cowering within the buildings or those still on the streets, were killed in the destruction that followed the collapse of the two skyscrapers.

Suffice to say, after personally seeing the fallout from his actions, Tony had been a lot more cautious in how he dealt with the enemy from that point on. Which meant in real terms, that he had stopped being as liberal with his suits more high-powered arsenal than he had at the beginning of the fight.

As for Natasha and Clint, or rather Black Widow and Hawkeye to the public, they had both split up by this point.

With Clint having taken to the city's roof tops, his bow and high-tech arrows in hand as he then proceeded to snipe down as many flying aliens as he could. The trained Shield agent, more numb to the collateral damage his actions caused than Iron Man, as he continued to shoot down the speeding aircrafts with explosive arrows.

Natasha meanwhile, had instead used her pirated alien chariot to speed up to the top of Stark Towers, past the penthouse apartment and onto the roof itself, the point from which the Tesseract powered sky beam, the source of the portal, was coming from.

 **( - )**

 **(With Natasha)**

With barely a thought the red headed agent leapt off of the alien aircraft as it crashed into the roof, rolling out of her leap as she did so, after which she made it back to her feet again, a gun already in hand and swivelling around as she rapidly surveyed the area for threats. Her green eyes narrowed and flicking this way and that, searching for danger.

Standing up from her crouch, her gun still raised and at the ready. She was almost immediately knocked back down to the floor in a crouch positon a few moments later as the floor below her suddenly shook. Almost as if one of those giant, flying space worms had smashed into the tower, even as a high pitched scream rang out from nearby.

Grimacing slightly at the sounds of battle, death and warfare all around her, Natasha pushed down her distaste and instead focused on the task at hand. With the read head standing up again, and ignoring the shaking floor, as she instead trained her gun on a grey haired, casually dressed man nearby.

A man who had seemingly not noticed her yet, despite her literally crash landing into the roof, as he instead stared in rapture at the glowing, blue Tesseract powered, portal machine in front of him.

Approaching the man cautiously, Natasha quickly noted that his eyes were an unnaturally, bright blue, and were both glazed and unfocused too, the exact same as Clint Barton's had been back when he had been brainwashed by Loki.

Watching the scientist cautiously, Natasha continued to approach the machine, her mind totally on the mission at hand as she inspected the glowing blue, dome of energy that surrounded it. Her arms shifting as she aimed her gun and fired a single shot off at the edge of the dome. Only for the area the bullet hit to light up, even as the bullet itself was completely disintegrated.

"It won't work," The old man, the kidnapped Doctor Selvig, suddenly spoke up, not looking away from the machine as he did so. "The shield is impenetrable."

Natasha scowled at that, she had already worked that much out. What she needed was not to be told what the problem was, but to be told the solution!

With that in mind she stepped forward, flicked the safety on her gun, and then smacked it into the dazed, old man's head. Knocking him clear off of his feet and on to the floor, rattling his head as she did so. Her emerald eyes firm, and resolute as she prepared to knock him out of his brainwashed state, just as she had Barton.

After all if anyone could help shut down the portal machine, it had to be the guy that built it!

 **( - )**

 **(With Nick Fury, back at the SHIELD Helicarrier)**

Currently, Nick Fury, the Director of SHIELD, was stood on the command deck of the Helicarrier, his single visible eye fixed on the half dozen holographic screens in front of him. His mouth set in a thin line as he watched the feeds from news channels all over the world as they reported on the ongoing alien invasion, earth's first official contact with extra-terrestrials.

Fury's flickered downward at that thought. Earth's first official contact with another intelligent species! He doubted anyone thought that earth's first contact would be in the form of an invasion.

The Attack on New York.

That was what the different news channels were calling it. Even as they issued live updates every minutes, shaky videos appearing as they showed the ongoing situation, and from what these images showed, things were bad, and that's bad with a capital B!

Bodies and debris could be seen lining the city's blocks, even as police and soldiers attempted in vain to fight off the marauding alien hordes. With Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all getting close up shots of them as they each did their own bit to bring an end to the invasion.

All three of them, as he had planned, taking on the mantel of heroes, and symbols of hope amongst the chaos and carnage.

Fury's lips quirked upwards at that thought, his gaze not leaving the screens, because even as he watched he could see more images and live streams coming in. Some of them coming from the braver news crews on the ground as they tried to get as close as they could to the battle.

Not that they had much luck as the police and army were being almost brutal in how they maintained the perimeter. As they had by this point, instead of going into the city to fight the aliens, instead started trying to contain the invasion as much as possible, or at least until reinforcements could arrive.

Frowning at this, Fury tapped away at his console, bringing up another couple of screens as he did so. With these screens showing live camera feeds from the cities still working CCTV camera network.

Flicking through them, he quickly caught sight of Rogers, Stark, Thor and even Barton for a couple of moments as all four Avengers continued to fight off the aliens and rescue the civilians.

Noticeably though two Avengers which should be there, were missing, which of course begged the question, where was Romanov and Kaneki?

Romanov he could understand, she was an agent, and was likely working to neutralise the threat at its source, i.e. Stark Towers. Which by happenstance was one of the few places in the city that he had no eyes in, due mainly to Stark's insane security system and all round belligerent reluctance to allow SHIELD and its hacker's access.

Kaneki though, he was a whole other story.

The white haired man was a wild card, a power house who could apparently go toe to toe with the Hulk and survive.

Surely someone as distinctive as him should be visible, and easily noticed? However he wasn't.

Flicking through the many different scenes of carnage, fighting and destruction on the holographic screens, Fury failed to find any sign of him.

"Pull up the tracker on Kaneki." Fury commanded, not even looking at anyone in particular as he instead spoke to the room at large. The hierarchy at SHIELD was well known, and the discipline was absolute, he didn't need to call out someone's name for them to know who he was talking too.

Moments later one of the screens flickered for a moment, before it instead showed a map of Manhattan with a red dot showing Kaneki's positon, alongside of which was a number of graphs, each of which were monitoring his heart rate and brain activity.

Both of which, Fury could see from a glance, were through the roof.

"He's at Stark Towers, sir!" One of the SHIELD analysts called out. "And he…" the same man then began, only to stop as suddenly the screen showing Kaneki's vitals and positon flickered again, before going static. "He's gone!"

"What happened?" Fury demanded, his single visible eye narrowing at the static screen. By the looks of it Kaneki had been at Stark Towers, which meant he was the one going after the Tesseract, that or he was after Loki.

"It's gone, the tracker's been destroyed!" The analyst gasped out. "That or it's no longer connected to him."

The man's face paled at that thought, after all the tracker had been embedded into Kaneki's skull.

"Probably the latter," Fury muttered to himself, after all the tracker had been made of cloaked adamantium, something that would not be destroyed in combat, but which also wouldn't show up to scanners or x-rays. A handy little device, and one that he had had put in to the heads of the Avenger's two wild cards, Banner and Kaneki.

"And I doubt it was ripped out of his skull by accident," Fury continued, his brow furrowing in frustration. They had only managed to get the damn thing into his head whilst he had been unconscious, and even then they had required adamantium tools cut through his ridiculously durable skin and skull.

Clearly he had underestimated Kaneki, not only had the man clock onto the tracker's presence, but he had somehow gotten through his own incredibly durable skin to take it out.

Fury's eyes narrowed at that thought. Some might call him paranoid, and might say that the tracker was probably dislodged by accident whilst the man was in combat, as unlikely as that might be. That or maybe it was dislodged by something very heavy, like Thor's hammer, hitting him in the head again.

Fury's frown intensified at that thought. In like there were no simple coincidences, on top of which, Kaneki, he knew, was far cannier, and far more dangerous than he liked to appear. This had been done on purpose, it had to have been!

Still, at least they knew that the white haired killer hadn't done a runner, and that he was instead in the city fighting the good fight.

That said, Fury made a note to himself to take the man to one side once this was all over. The cannibalistic mutant was still very high up on their Index of powered people, and was someone that they couldn't just let run around without being monitored. Especially since he ate humans for sustenance…

"Sir," Agent Hill suddenly interrupted, breaking him out of his thoughts as she walked up to him.

Turning to look at her carefully, a stern look spread across his weathered face as he gave her a hard glare, one that he hoped told her that he didn't appreciate that she had broken his train of thought. Not that she, his long-time assistant, so much as batted an eye.

"The Council is on."

"Oh great," Fury growled, he didn't have to think long to work out just why the Council, the five top executives of SHIELD, and their chief investors, wanted him. He knew at once what they wanted.

With that in mind, he sighed, even as he closed the news reports and pressed a button to bring up the Council so he could speak with them.

This was not going to be good!

 **( - )**

 **(With Loki, several minutes previously)**

"Shit!" Loki, honestly didn't know what the fuck was happening. One minute he had been standing opposite Kaneki, taunting him, the next the white haired human, if he could even be called that, had changed.

No longer was he a slight, shorter than average human, instead he now looked almost demonic, as four massive, barbed, wing like protrusions ripped out of his back, each of them throbbing with red, green and purple energy.

The rest of him was likewise changing, as he seemingly grew a blackened, armoured carapace, one which was covered in spikes and thorns, and which seemed perfectly moulded to his slim form.

Even his face was no longer visible, as the blackened armour had crept up and covered it, forming a leering, twisted, grotesque demonic face as it did so. One which had sharp horns jutting from its forehead, even as it had a beard of spikes, and a shaggy main of purple, green and red energy.

Ken Kaneki had turned from an unassuming man, into some kind of psychedelic, demonic abomination, one which was more disturbed, dangerous and demented than even the most creative and messed up of mortals could think up.

And right now this creature was leering at him, its breathing ragged, and harsh, even as the air around it began to become hotter, steam issuing off of its body, and from its mouth as it did so.

Hunching over, the creature's one visible eye, a single narrowed orb, with a black sclera and crimson flecked phosphorus green iris, glared at him.

Hunger, rage, glee and madness radiating from that single, expressive, nightmare inducing, eye.

Loki took a step back as he saw this, his throat drying as fear began to bubble up inside of him.

He had to escape he had to get out of here. Gripping his sceptre tighter Loki made to flee, the jewel at the top of the blades sceptre beginning to glow in response to his terror.

Before he could act though, Kaneki had moved. The floor beneath him turning to shreds as he shot forwards, faster than humanly possible.

In response, Loki instinctively swung his sceptre around to defend against the sudden, straight forward rush. His mind now blank as he felt the almost suffocating pressure, and aura of dread, emanating off of Kaneki.

Only for his heart to nearly stop, when without even blinking Kaneki's clawed hand caught his wrist, and wrenched it, his hand and the sceptre flying off across the room in a spray of blood and gore as Kaneki, this mortal, physically mutilated Loki, a Frost Giant, and Norse God!

"Arghh!" Loki cried out, his cry almost shrill as he gazed in shock as his now bloody, ragged limb.

Kaneki though was not as bothered, as with another feral growl he landed a clawed foot straight into Loki's gut, cracking ribs as he kicked him off his feet and sent him hurtling through the air, across the room, and through Tony Stark's bar. And yes, Stark had a literal drinks bar in his living.

Licking the blood off of his claw like hand, Kaneki's demonic face twisted into a leer of delight, even as the hunger and glee in his gaze burned brighter than ever. His footsteps shaking the entire room as he once again lunged forwards, the floor behind him shattering, along with any furniture that happened to get in his way.

Seeing this Loki lunged out of the way, his pain bringing him some semblance of clarity as it gave him something other than his fear to focus on. Enough so that he was able to work his magic, twelve images of him now forming up with flashes of golden light as he leapt to one side.

His Frost Giant strength and constitution allowing him to fling himself out of the way as Kaneki tore through the bar in moments. After which the four protrusions that had emerged from his back, lashed out, the wing like tendril lashing out with their clawed ends, tearing through walls, furniture and the Loki copies, that he had made, even as shards of red and green energy exploded from the wings, ripping holes in anything they happened hit.

Pushing out more power, Loki continued to try and mess with Kaneki's senses, creating more copies of himself, copies that leered and jeered at the creature, attempting to provoke it. With the room itself changing too as Loki used one of his memories of an ancient battle field to attempted to confuse Kaneki.

With that done, Loki tried using the opportunity this gave him to crawl over to his dismembered hand and sceptre. His ticket out of here.

Or at least that was the plan, and it had been a good one. Unfortunately though, it was one that was destined to fail, because moments after he had started crawling, Kaneki appeared above him, his clawed foot lashing out at Loki's underside as he kicked him into the air. His right hand whipping round to smash him in the gut as he did so.

Only instead of knocking him away, the clawed hand tore straight through his gut, puncturing his steel like skin and plunging deep into his organs. The claws shredding anything that got in its way, as moments later, Loki, with great discomfort, felt the hand grip his spinal cord.

"W-what are y-you!?" Loki spat, blood spraying out of his mouth with every word and spattering over Kaneki's masked face. Or at least that's what he had thought it was, right up until the mask moved, the black, scale like skin shifting as a great maw of jagged, white, razor sharp teeth opened, and a long, pink tongue whipped out to lick Loki's blood off of its face.

Scrabbling around in his belt, Loki's left hand, his only remaining one, gripped his dagger.

Wrenching it out of its holster he then plunged it into Kaneki's head.

Or at least he tried to, for before he could Kaneki's other hand had caught his arm in a vice like grip, before, with a simple twist, he broke the limb. Jagged, splintered pieces of bone tearing through Loki's skin as the demonic creature continued to twist and mangle his arm for several seconds.

Letting out another scream of pain, more blood spattered from the god's mouth, even as more lifeblood flowed from the stump on his right arm, and the wound in his gut. Kaneki's hand tightening on his spine as he did so, several vertebrae on his spine splintering and cracking from the action.

"Please." Loki begged hoarsely, his tone coming out broken and desperate as he stared into Kaneki's single, demented eye. His own blue eyes beginning to water, even as he grit his teeth so hard from the pain that several of them cracked.

He was pleading, this is what this monster had reduced him too.

He, Loki, a god, a Prince of Asgard, and at one time its King, was pleading. Pleading like some common, petty human!

Was this truly what he had been reduced too?

Looking into Kaneki's hungry eye, Loki could only think yes.

Yes, if this is what it took to save his life, then yes, he would beg, yes he would plead, yes he would fall on his knees and do anything he could to save his own life.

As if he could hear Loki's thoughts, Kaneki paused, his head cocking to one side for a moment as he did so. One of his hand raising up as he seemingly scratched at his odd mane, of red, green and purple energy in thought.

A very human motion, and one which filled Loki with hope. The 'hero' was going to show him mercy, he was not going to die!

A few moments later though, that hope died as he heard an odd crunching, squelching sound, after which Kaneki took his hand away from his head, his claw like fingers covered in gore, even as he inspected a tiny, odd, metal device in his hand for a moment. Before without blinking he crushed it, the device sparking feebly for a moment before he dropped it to the ground.

Looking at the little device, Loki once again felt terror bubbling up inside of him as he brought his gaze back to Kaneki. His blue eyes beginning to water, and his mouth going dry as he saw the saliva dripping from Kaneki's open maw.

"Please…" Loki whispered, his horned golden helmet clattering to the floor as Kaneki pulled him forwards, and towards his salivating, fang mouth. "Plea….!"

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what did you all think? I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **I'm sure you've noticed, the attack on new york in my story is a lot bloodier than the one in canon. Just because I don't think six people, two of whom don't have powers, could stop an entire invasion without there being a lot of colateral damage. Nor do I like how the police were made out to be a little incompetent in responding, though that might be me just reading into things too much when I see caps little monologue to the police officer, after which he does a few punches and shield bashes on aliens as if to prove his point.**

 **Plus I don't like how the aliens were portayed too much. These aliens were an invasion force, they should be veteran soliders, trained and armed with the best gear space money can buy. But yeah again, that was only a minor gripe.**

 **Now hopefully the next chapter will wrap up the battle of new York, after which I can start setting out where the story will go next as I now have material from more than twenty odd films, half a dozen tv series, and the rest of the Marvel universe to play with. Like seriously the Marvel universe is colossal, and there are some many place a film/ tv buff could take this story!**

 **That said for now I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and leave a review!**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll see you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: So I have to say the support so far has been phenomenal, it really make it a pleasure to write this story, more so than it is anyway. That said here is the next chapter, I hope it doesn't disappoint, after all it should satisfy most people in one way or another, depending on your thoughts of the conclusion of the last chapter.**

 **That said I do appreciate how some quite like Kaneki's knew Kakuja form. That said I do know what some mean about it not being quite the same as the one he had in canon. Though I will say I didn't have venom in mind at all when I wrote out the description. In the same vain, some asked about Kaneki going Dragon, I have thought of that, but as an anime watcher and not a manga reader, I will need to do a bit more research before I come to a decision on what I want to do with the whole Dragon thing. After all the last couple of seasons of the anime were not great…**

 **That said, here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Thanks for reading, and please do leave a review!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or the Avengers, or Marvel. If I did I would have made some very different decision than the current owners.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _A few moments later though, that hope died as he heard an odd crunching, squelching sound, after which Kaneki took his hand away from his head, his claw like fingers covered in gore, even as he inspected a tiny, odd, metal device in his hand for a moment. Before without blinking he crushed it, the device sparking feebly for a moment before he dropped it to the ground._

 _Looking at the little device, Loki once again felt terror bubbling up inside of him as he brought his gaze back to Kaneki. His blue eyes beginning to water, and his mouth going dry as he saw the saliva dripping from Kaneki's open maw._

 _"_ _Please…" Loki whispered, his horned golden helmet clattering to the floor as Kaneki pulled him forwards, and towards his salivating, fang mouth. "Plea….!"_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 9**

 **(On the streets of Manhattan)**

Dozens of Chitauri were rampaging down the high street, their weapons firing off jets of condensed energy as they did so. The tall, gangly, bug like aliens slaloming around abandoned vehicles and piles of rubble as they constantly pushed outwards, terrorizing all those that remained on the city's streets.

A couple of dozen feet away, dozens of police officers and soldiers desperately tried to hold out against the advancing alien threat.

Despite this the numbers, and superior firepower arrayed against them though, they didn't retreat, in fact they couldn't, not really. After all their barricade, which had been hastily constructed out of abandoned vehicles, rubble and furniture, was all that stood between the invading, land based aliens and the Manhattan Bridge.

Across the rest of the city similar barricades had also been put up, and were also being defended. Though fortunately for those defending the other bridges, the numbers attacking them were significantly less than those besieging the Manhattan Bridge.

That being said, at the front of the defenders, Captain America could be seen taking point, his colourful, Vibranium shield held out in front of him as he weathered the alien assault, even as he called out orders to the surrounding soldiers, policemen and civilian volunteers. His rank as a former army captain technically making him the most qualified man to lead at the moment.

What with all the other army officers, and police sergeants, lieutenants and captains, having all either been killed, or having evacuated/ fled along with the thousands of others that even now continued to flood off of Manhattan and away from the invading army.

"More flyers!" Captain America shouted out in warning, gesturing as he did so at the half dozen alien chariots that hurtled through the air towards them, jets of energy already flying, and exploding as they smashed into the barricade, two police officers going down with agonising screams as the warning came too late.

Fortunately, before the chariots could unleash another volley, Iron Man shot down from the sky, red laser like beams exploding from his gauntlets as he destroyed all six chariots, even as he twisted in mid-air and unleashed a shower of small missiles on the charging aliens.

Screams and cries issuing forth form the oncoming horde as the missiles hit and exploded, slaughter dozens.

"Thanks Tony!" Steve said into his communicator, even as he used a recently appropriated sub-machine gun to shoot at the advancing aliens, his strafing fire hitting three of the aliens, though only two went down permanently, the other was only clipped.

"No problem, it looks like you need the help. From the looks of it most of the Chitauri are heading in your direction." Tony replied, his usual joking tone absent as he blasted through the air, darting around buildings as he continued to try and hunt down more of the alien chariots.

Avoiding the colossal Leviathans where he could, even as they continued to fly through the city, tearing through anything in their path. From past experience, taking one of those things down alone caused more collateral damage to the city, even more in fact than what the creature itself was causing.

"Dammit! Thor, Hawkeye, Kaneki, Black Widow, I could use some reinforcements down here!" Steve shouted into his communicator, even as he used his shield to block several more blasts.

In response to his call, the air above him was filled with surge of lightning, bolts raining down upon the advancing aliens, tearing through their bodies and making them scream in pain and agony, as they were blasted to pieces, or sent flying through the air, burnt and broken.

Lowering his shield, Steve soon found the source of the lighting, as the moment the light show ended a battered and tired looking Thor landed in the street. His mighty hammer, Mjolnir, in hand as he swept it around smashing aside and killing the last couple of aliens around him.

"Thor!" Captain America shouted, climbing down from the barricade and meeting up with Thor even as the blonde Asgardian walked up to him. The police officers and soldiers behind the barricade cheering as they saw that one if the big guns had arrived.

"The situation is grim, we must ready ourselves as more are coming!" Thor said bluntly, his blue eyes surveying the barricade and cheering defenders, as well as one or two of the more persistent journalists and news crews, who despite the danger had stuck around. "I tried to bottleneck the portal for as long as I could!"

"Right." Steve nodded tightly, before he spoke into his communicator again. "Widow, Kaneki, Hawkeye what's the situation with you!?"

"I'm on a roof near Stark Towers sniping out alien crafts, I'm nearly out of arrows though!" Hawkeye replied swiftly.

"When you run out get down here, it looks like we'll need the back up. Thor managed buy us a slight reprieve, but there are still hundreds, if not thousands of aliens soldiers in the city!" Steve replied quickly. "What about with you Widow?"

"I'm working to take out the portal!" Natasha replied swiftly, her voice harried as she did so. "It's protected by some kind of energy shield, Selvig is saying we need Loki's Sceptre!"

"I'll find him, I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor spoke up darkly, his grip on his hammer tightening at the thought of his adopted brother, and the architect behind all of this death and destruction.

"Yeah? Well get in line," Barton replied as he continued to shoot arrows.

"The last I saw of the bastard he was at my tower!" Stark cut in, his voice calm, even as he shot through the city at breakneck speeds. "He might still be there."

"Isn't that where Kaneki was headed?" Hawkeye cut in.

"I think so yeah, I'm on the roof of Stark Towers now, I'll head down and see if I can find him, or Loki!" Natasha replied quickly.

"Good, you do that and we'll keep the Chitauri occupied." Steve nodded, looking to Thor now.

"If you need help Widow, call for me!" Thor spoke after a couple of moments of silence, his tone still angry even as he put aside his desire to mete out justice to his brother, and instead focused on the matter at hand. "Rogers and I will fight the aliens on the ground, Stark and Barton, you take care of the airborne ones. Barton when you run out of arrows come down and join us!"

As he said that Thor began to whirl his hammer about in his hands, even as he heard the skittering, clicking shouts and screeches of more Chitauri in the distance, hundreds more of the insect like aliens rampaging forwards as they charged Thor and the Captain's positions on mass.

"Right!" Barton nodded, signing off.

"On it!" Natasha tagged on.

"You got it point break!" Tony finished, attempting humour even as he crashed straight through a building, glass shattering around him as he caught three alien chariots in an ambush.

"Good, now come on Rogers! We've got an alien horde to decimate!" Thor bellowed, releasing his hammer as he did so, the godly weapon hurtling forwards with immense force, cleaving through nearly a dozen charging aliens as it did so.

 **( - )**

 **(At the same time, with Fury, on the Helicarrier)**

"I'm sorry Director Fury, but the Council has made their decision," Councilwoman Hawley said, her gaze fixed on Nick Fury, even as live scenes of the ongoing situation in New York played out on another screen. "The situation there is no longer tenable. Tens of thousands lie dead already, and our stationed forces are struggling to hold the invading forces back. For the good of the country, no, for the good of the world, we no longer have a choice!"

"I recognise that the Council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it!" Fury shot back, not backing down even as he too saw the island of Manhattan burning, several airborne aliens noticeable managing to shoot over the river, after which they then began invading the rest of the city.

The situation was admittedly a shit show; however, the order the Council was giving him was one that he could not follow, not when he still had men and women on the ground who could help. Though admittedly, his people on the ground were struggling. Not only were they massively outnumbered, but Banner had gone AWOL, as had Kaneki.

Hell, the situation was so bad that he was on the verge of calling in his secret weapon, the first Avenger, Captain Marvel, to reinforce the beleaguered Avengers.

"Director, you're closer than any of our subs. You scramble that jet and…" Councilman Gideon Malick ordered, his aged face scrunching up into a furious scowl, only for Fury to cut him off. From beside him he could see Agent Hill, and a number of other Agents and analysts all looking at him. All of them with looks of horror on their faces.

By now many of them had realised what the Council wanted.

"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman," Nick Fury snapped, his 'fury' finally getting the best of him. "Until I'm certain my team can't hold them off, I will _not_ order a nuclear strike against a civilian population!"

"If we don't hold them here, we'll lose everything," Gideon Malick said loudly, gesturing at the scenes they were all seeing from within his own screen. "The city is lost, its people are all either dead, or have fled. The only option now is to launch the nukes! A city is a small price to pay in order to safeguard our country and its people from harm!"

"You send that bird out and it will mean war with Asgard!" Nick Fury shouted, trying to make them see reason. "I will not order the death of Asgard's Crown Prince and cause another war to follow us here. Just let me do my job, the Avengers are working to bring down the portal and hold back the aliens, and soon they'll be reinforced. There are still other options available to us!"

"Director, be reasonable. The Avengers cannot stop the alien invasion. A nuclear strike can end this, right now!" Gideon Malick argued angrily. "Besides, the choice has been made, and the order has been given!"

Fury paled as he heard that, his teeth clenching as he stared at the assembled Council men and women. "What have you done?"

"We've done what was necessary!" Malick replied grimly.

 **( - )**

 **(With Natasha)**

Landing on the penthouse terrace, Natasha Romanov, hit the ground with a roll, a slight 'oof' leaving her lips as she then rolled up into a crouched positon, her pistol already up and at the ready.

Almost immediately her green eyes scanned the surrounding area, taking in the cracked and broken terrace and the apartment's shattered windows.

There had been a fight here, she could see the splotches of blood on the ground. More than that though, she could also taste the metallic, sweet, coppery taste of blood in the air, far more blood had been spilled than what the splotches on the terrace indicated.

Pushing herself up onto her feet, her gun still at the ready, Natasha slowly advanced into the penthouse apartment. Her eyes narrowed as she filtered out the sound of the invasion and instead focused on the room in front of her, even as she stepped over the shattered remnants of the window and entered.

Almost immediately she could tell something was wrong. The stench of blood and offal intensified the moment she stepped into the room. It stank like an abattoir. On top of that she could hear the wet, sickening, squelching sound of tearing flesh and the crunching of bones.

Slowly advancing into the decimated room, her gun began to shake in her hands, even as her breath began to mist out in front of her. The temperature in the room seemed to drop with every step she took, even as the horrific sounds of cracking bones and masticated flesh got louder and louder.

Even the smell was becoming worse, the stench of blood and death was so potent now that it almost made her, a trained and highly experienced killer, nearly wretch.

"Widow, what's the situation? Have you managed to track Loki down yet?" Captain America's voice rang out through her communicator, even as she stepped over blood stained, frost coated rubble and approached a nearby, dark, hunched over figure.

Her eyes widening and the shaking of her hands intensified as she took in this being's large, powerfully built stature, and the spiky, insect like carapace that surrounded its' body. Her eyes shifting as she saw a pair of bat like wings protruding from the creature back, her eyes widening even further as she saw that they seemed to be made of some kind of red, green, blue and purple energy.

On top of that she could see another set of wings, only this set seemed to be mutating before her eyes, the energy darkening, even as the wings twisted. Both of them soon solidifying, before her very eyes, into a long, armoured, segmented tendrils. Tendrils which looked unnervingly like giant, many legged centipedes, complete with snapping pincer like jaws at the ends.

"Black Widow? Natasha!?" Steve's voice came again, knocking Natasha out of her horror, her green eyes having previous been fixed on the gorging beast in front of her, even as she found herself unable to look away or move.

"We might have a problem." Natasha whispered quietly, her throat feeling very dry, it almost felt like it was clogged up as she spoke. The cold in the air had by now soaked deep into her bones, and every breath caused her lungs to burn, even as the stench of blood almost overwhelmed her. "T-there's something here? S-some kind of m-monster…"

"Natasha?!" Clint asked, his voice very worried, no doubt due to the fear and horror in Natasha's own voice as she spoke.

"Is it one of the Chitauri?" Steve asked, his own voice filled with concern now, not that he let his concern distract him as he continued to fight off the swarming alien horde.

"I don't know, it's like nothing I've ever seen. It could be an alien, but not like any of the ones attacking the city. It's some kind of monster, or a devil…" Natasha whispered, unable to look away as the creature suddenly lifted its head; blood, torn up scraps of flesh and shattered remnants of bone falling from its jaws as it did so.

"What of Loki and the Sceptre!?" Thor asked, his voice as loud and confident as ever, though noticeably even he sounded a little discomforted by what he heard in Natasha's voice.

"Well, I found Loki." Natasha said softly, her green eyes fixed on the now revealed thing beneath the creature, a sudden lump forming in her throat as her gaze locked with Loki's empty, terrified blue orbs. Her gaze then trailing down to what remained of his torso, a bloody, macabre ruin of shattered bones and shredded organs. In fact from the shoulders down the God of Mischief was little more than a crumbled, bloody, stain on the ground.

"And?" Thor demanded, his tone turning irritable now.

"He's dead." Natasha said bluntly, "And, well, he didn't die easily…"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Thor as he heard this.

"Thor! Thor!" Captain America's voice came a few moments later.

"What's happened?" Tony cut in quickly.

"Thor's gone, I think he's heading towards Stark Towers!" Captain America said.

"Dammit, I will head down there to back you up!" Hawkeye offered, keeping his mind on the mission now. "I'm nearly out of arrows anyway!"

"Thanks, and Natasha you need to get on the Sceptre, the sooner we close the portal the sooner we can deal with the aliens, and this monster of yours! By my guess Thor is heading over to Stark Towers now to back you up!" Steve said, still fighting as he did so.

"On it." Natasha replied, tapping her communicator as she did so in order to mute it, even as she slowly started to move. The bone deep cold emanating from the monster in front of her making her limbs go numb, even as she crept around the edge of the room.

Her sharp eyes flicking all over the room as she did so, before they came to rest on the Sceptre some fifteen feet from Loki's corpse, a pale, bloody hand noticeably still clinging to it in a death grip.

It was as she was doing this that she heard a sudden growling noise, the deep thrum of the sound making her freeze as she felt the floor beneath her quake.

Looking up slowly, Natasha soon locked eyes with the creature's single, visible, burning crimson eye. The orb holding a note of curiousity and cold detachment to it. Not the hunger or rage she feared it might.

That said, to Natasha, the monsters' detached, analysing look was more unnerving than if it had been full of anger and hatred. After all it spoke of a certain amount of intelligence.

Taking a step back at the sight of this, Natasha could only watch in fear as the monster stood up, and revealed just how immense it truly was.

It was nearly nine feet tall, and its' shoulders at least three feet across, all of which gave it an intimidating stature. One which instinctively made her take a step back, especially when she noticed it's long, blood stained claws, and gore covered mouth.

Her heart was beating faster than ever now, even as the beast started prowling towards her. Her gun was shaking in her hands as she raised it, not that she believed it would do much good, not when this creature had presumably just ripped Loki, a god, or rather an inhumanly strong and powerful alien, apart with its' bare hands.

Still, despite the futility of the action, she aimed the gun at the creature's eye, her heart still thundering in her chest, even as her finger ghosted over the trigger.

They were in a standoff of sorts. If the creature went for her, she would shoot it in the eye. Somehow Natasha was of the opinion that a bullet through the brain would at least slow down, or kill the beast. On the other hand, if it didn't, that just meant it would piss it off, which in turn meant that she was dead.

It was an impasse. One she didn't dare to break.

Whether the creature shared her restraint though, was another thing.

"Ok, I'm just here for the Sceptre." Natasha said softly, slowly shifting her feet as she tried to edge around the creature. Her green eyes flicking from its' bloodstained claws, to its' bloody maw, and then to the two flexing and curling centipede like tendrils that writhed around behind it, like separate living beings.

A deep growl emanated from the creatures chest at her words, even as its' clawed feet shifted, mirroring her movement as she continued to edge towards the Sceptre. The two of them moving in tandem, with the creature soon having its' back to the shattered windows, even as Natasha edged back towards Loki's bloody hand and the Sceptre.

"So you are intelligent, like I thought." Natasha muttered, not daring to take her eyes of the creature, even as it gave her a bemused look.

This creature could kill her in an instant, she knew that. In fact it didn't even seem to be bothered by the gun in her hand, though surely, if it was intelligent, then it at least recognised it as a weapon. This in turn meant that the creature was either not as smart as she thought, or far too arrogant, or just completely confident in its' abilities

Crouching slightly, Natasha managed to grip the Sceptre with her free hand. Her fingers clenching tightly around it as she then stood up once more, picking up the staff as she did so.

"Right, so I've got the Sceptre, now what?" Natasha muttered to herself, her eyes fixed on the creature, even as she saw the flash of cold amusement in its gaze. She had the staff, but now she had a giant, murderous, mutant thing, between her and her way out.

Before she could even begin to think of what she would do next though, she already received her answer, as suddenly, with a loud bellow the front of the building exploded, even as Thor, the God of Thunder, made his entrance.

"Thor!" Natasha shouted, reacting in an instant as she leapt to the side and rolled.

Thor though ignored her, his attention instead on the creature as the battered looking god ploughed through the front of the building, his form wreathed in lighting as he landed on the ground and then twisted. His hammer, Mjolnir, leaving his hand like a bullet, lighting arcing off of it as it caught the surprised creature in the chest.

The hammer striking the creature with a loud crunching sound, as its' carapace like armour was caved in, even as the hammer knocked the monster clean off of its' feet and through a nearby wall.

"Loki!" Thor roared, still ignoring Natasha as he instead stormed towards Loki's mangled, mostly devoured form. The only part of which that was still recognisable as having once been a living being, being the god's face, which even from here Natasha could see was twisted into a rictus of fear and agony.

Swallowing the lump in her throat as she heard the raw pain and anger in Thor's voice. Natasha instead kept her mind on the mission. This was an opportunity, and she would be a fool to not take it. Which is why, with barely a glance at the hole in the wall, through which the monster had been sent, she ran across the room and out onto the balcony.

The Sceptre still clutched tightly in her hands as she put her acrobatics to the test and began to climb up to the roof from the penthouse, all while clutching the unwieldy staff in one hand.

She had a mission to do, she needed to shut down the portal, now!

 **( - )**

 **(With Kaneki)**

With a slight growl Kaneki's single, visible crimson eye snapped open.

He was in pain, despite his broken bones knitting together and his carapace repairing itself, even as he pushed himself up. Bits and pieces of rubble and brick sliding off of him as he did so.

Despite his pain though, his previous anger was noticeably gone, as too was his hunger, he had been satiated. Instead he felt only pain and confusion. What had happened to him? When he went to face Loki, he had felt something unnatural come over him. Something he had never experienced before.

Sure he had been hungry, almost starved even, after all he had been doing a lot of fighting recently and burning through colossal amounts of energy whilst doing so. After all, where usually he only needed to eat maybe once a month or so that was only when he was going about with causal day to day activities, and occasionally fighting in a cage match for extra cash. When it came to fighting gods and whatever the hell the Hulk was, he needed to use far more energy.

Still, it couldn't have just been his hunger taking over. A starved Ghoul didn't mutate like that, did they? He had never been told they did, and back when he first became a Ghoul he had gone days without eating, and had never had anything like this happen to him.

Which of course begged the question of just what that was? When fighting against Loki he had felt strong, stronger than he ever had before. He had also felt a cold, controlled rage, one which made it easy for him to rip Loki limb from limb. He had been in complete control though, but despite that, despite knowing how killing Loki was probably not the best idea, and eating him certainly wasn't, he had still done it.

Standing up, Kaneki looked down and flexed his limbs, his clawed, blackened hands responding without issue, even when he cracked the middle finger of his right hand. The sudden sharp burst of pain from the action bringing yet more clarity to him.

He felt odd right now. Both natural, and unnatural. Like this is what he was supposed to be, and yet also like he was some kind of walking, talking abomination.

Again, it was odd.

Taking a step forward, Kaneki started to force his way through the hole in the wall in front of him. The jagged wings behind him forcing their way back inside his body, even as the two centipede like tendrils lashed out, gouging deep into the wall as he forced himself out of the hole and back into Stark's apartment.

As he did so, he noticed the floor beneath him was frosting over, and that an icy, cold mist seemed to be emanating off of him.

Seeing this, another pang of clarity struck Kaneki. Where eating the Hulk had made him much strong, eating Loki it appeared had also had an effect. It was not the permanent, colossal boost in strength that eating Banner's Gamma Radiated flesh had given him though. Instead it was almost as if eating Loki had lowered his body's temperature. Just by looking around he could see that the area around him was rapidly freezing over, almost like the vapour coming off of him was comparable to liquid nitrogen.

Why eating an Asgardian like Loki would do such a thing, Kaneki didn't know. But still, he was curious. Raising his hand, Kaneki tried to control it. To maybe send a blast of ice somewhere like he had seen in films and anime.

Nothing happened.

Frowning internally, Kaneki instead tried to focus on the ice vapour which was still rolling off of his form, trying to make it colder as he did so.

This time, he met with success, as almost immediately the walls and rubble around him started to crack, even as the coating of frost turned into ice, spreading rapidly across the room. Turning Tony's front room into a frozen tundra, as the shattered furniture, and mounds of rubble froze over.

The frost travelling all the way to where a blonde figure, in a red cloak was hunched over a bloodied mangled form. His body shaking, though not from the cold, even as frost formed over his cloak, and began to freeze Loki's mangled corpse.

"You killed him!" The figure said, his voice raw with emotion.

The voice caught Kaneki's attention as he stopped testing his abilities and instead looked over to the figure. His single, red eyes blinking in surprise as he saw it was Thor. With the God of Thunder standing up, even as Kaneki watched, Loki's bloodied corpse falling off of his lap and hitting the floor with a crunch. The body now totally frozen over now.

Not that Kaneki paid it that much attention, as instead his gaze was fixed on Thor.

He looked angry.

No, that was an understatement, he looked furious!

Completely livid!

Raising his hand, the mound of rubble behind Kaneki exploded, with Thor's hammer shooting passed the Ghoul's shoulder as it returned to Thor's raised hand.

So that is what hit him. Kaneki thought mildly, the heady rush of his current form not leaving him yet, even as he began to work out just why Thor might be a little peeved.

"He was my brother, and you killed him!" Thor growled, lightning once again arcing off of his form, even as he began to twirl his hammer in his hand.

"He was an enemy, and also wasn't he adopted?" Kaneki replied, the coldness of his own voice shocking him, even as he noted that where the Hulk's flesh had effected his control over his emotions, making him more prone to anger. Loki's had negated that change, and instead brought him back to normal, if not made him a bit colder, and more compassionless than before.

"So you can speak, monster!" Thor hissed, the lightning arcing off of him like never before, as, instead of drawing it from the sky like he usually did, the bolts of lightning instead seemed to be emanating from Thor's own body.

Tensing as he heard the bloodlust in Thor's voice. Kaneki crouched down, his claw like hands reforming into two, curved, three foot long, razor sharp blades, even as the air around him got colder than ever, going way below zero now as glass and stone began to shatter and everything around him began to freeze.

Almost instantly Kaneki felt his heart beating faster, and a sudden hunger came upon him.

This one however wasn't like the usual hunger, the hunger he had for flesh and sustenance. Instead this was a hunger for violence, and battle, and carnage.

 _"_ _Well beast, what are you waiting for?"_ A familiar voice drawled, even as the still, seemingly alive Loki faded into view, directly next to Thor, his lips quirked upwards in an arrogant smirk as he locked gazes with Kaneki. _"Get him!"_

"I'll kill you!" Thor bellowed, erupting forwards and at Kaneki, even as Kaneki, trying to ignore the sudden emergence of Loki's apparition, exploded forwards too.

God and Ghoul meeting in the middle, even as Kaneki avoided Thor's first wild swing, and the lightning that erupted off of the hammer, as he instead lashed with his two centipede like tendrils. Both of them smashing into Thor, shredding his cloak as the legs tore at him, and hurled him through the window, and straight into a nearby building.

 _"_ _Ooph, that had to hurt."_ Loki drawled delightedly, now from beside Kaneki, even as his smile widened.

Once again ignoring the dark haired Asgardian, Kaneki let loose a roar of excitement as he hurled himself off of Stark's building and over towards where Thor had had been thrown. His heart beating faster than ever as he ignored the red and gold blur, Stark, which shot past him, some kind of missile held over his head, as he instead collided with the recovering Thor.

One of his blade like hands smacking Mjolnir away as Thor swung at him, whilst the other sheared through Thor's armour with ease, leaving a bloody gash in his chest. After which Kaneki landed a clawed foot to his now bloody chest and kicked him through the current building, and into the next one.

Thor however, maintained enough control to lash out with his hammer, lightning arcing off of it as he sent a concentrated blast at Kaneki from mid-air.

Only for the Ghoul to flare his wings again, and cocoon himself in them in order to defend himself. The attack burning his wings slightly, before dispersing, even as his centipede like kagune lashed out, sheering through the concrete and metal building supports in front, and around him. Taking out all of them along one side of the skyscraper, which in turn meant that the other thirty stories on top became over balanced. Which again, in turn meant that they rapidly began to tip over, carried over by their own weight, and lack of support.

Letting out another shout of excitement, Kaneki barrelled forward through the rapidly collapsing skyscraper, even as he saw Thor smash through it to. Both of them once again meeting in combat.

Hammer and lightning, battling against kagune and overwhelming physical strength and ferocity as the two clashed within the remains of a collapsing skyscraper, everything around them freezing or shattering as Kaneki's heart continued to beat faster and faster with excitement and battle fury.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes earlier)**

"Well this is a real shit show isn't it?" Hawkeye shouted as he leapt off of a flying alien chariot, allowing it to crash into a scrum of the Chitauri trying to get at him, killing at least two and maiming three others, even as he rolled upon landing on the ground.

With him making it to his feet moments later, his bow lashing out as he hit one of the aliens in the juncture between its' neck and shoulder, knocking it down. His hand moving up, as he then pulled a knife out of his belt and stabbed another through in the eye socket.

"Glad you could join us!" Captain America replied, lashing out with his shield and crushing one of the Chitauri's throats. After which he followed this up by hurling his shield at another, knocking it down, even as he aimed his pistol and gunned down three more.

The barricades had been overrun, hundreds of soldiers and police officers were dead, or dying. Though this didn't stop the remaining ones from still fighting.

"Thought you could do with the assist!" Hawkeye returned, throwing his bow to one side as he instead picked up an automatic rifle from a dead soldier and instead began to gun down the surrounding aliens.

"Smash!" A bestial voice roared out from nearby, the source of the voice appearing soon afterwards as the Hulk lunged into view, lashing out and crushing as many Chitauri as he could. Loud bellows and roars erupting from his throat every few seconds, as he ignored the measly humans around him and instead focused on crushing the insect like aliens.

"When did the Hulk show up?" Hawkeye asked incredulously, even as the Hulk waded into the mass of aliens assaulting the barricade, not caring one jot for those behind him as he broke the line and instead started pounding away at the invaders.

"Literally a few minutes before you did." Steve shrugged, using the pause in the fight the Hulk's actions caused to reclaim his shield, and to drop his pistol and pick up a loaded sub-machinegun from the ground. "Banner just rocked up on a scooter a few minutes ago wearing rags. He said he had seen the news and came to help, must have broken through the barricades on the other side of the bridge too. Either way, he turned up, and went all Hulk, and then, well, then you turned up!"

"Oh," Clint nodded, emptying his current clip into a nearby Chitauri, and then smashing another one in the head with the butt of the gun as he did so. "Well better late to the party than never."

"You call this a party?" Steve replied grimly, looking out over the mass of aliens still attacking the bridge, and the hundreds of dead human and alien bodies that littered the floor. The Hulk's struggling form still visible some twenty metres away now, in the centre of the writing mass of invading Chitauri.

Hawkeye grimaced at that, before he dodged back, avoiding a blast from an alien rifle. One which struck a policeman near him, burning a hole through his chest and killing him. After which Clint took the policeman's rifle and returned fire, blowing the Chitauri in questions head off of its' body.

"Even with all three of us here, they're still probably going to break through aren't they?" Clint asked grimly, fending off another alien as he did so, before getting himself another headshot.

Steve sent him a grim look in response, but didn't verbally reply. After all, they both knew the answer already.

"I've got the Sceptre and can close the portal! Can anybody copy, I can shut the portal down," Black Widow voices suddenly rang out through their communication system.

"Thank fucking Christ!" Clint grunted, his eyes flicking up and in the direction of the portal as he did so, even as he saw yet another one of the Leviathans emerge

"Do it," Captain America shouted.

"No, wait," Iron Man cut in, Tony' voice sounding out for the first time in a while now. The suited Superhero having been absent from the fight, or at least from sight, for nearly ten minutes now.

"Stark these things are still coming," Captain America warned, his eyes widening as the Leviathan fully emerged from the portal, followed in kind by another dozen chariots.

"I've got a nuke coming in, and it's going to blow in less than a minute," Stark replied bluntly. "And I know just where to put it."

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Steve shot back, holding back his panic at the thought of Tony Stark carrying a Nuclear missile into the heart of Manhattan.

Stark didn't reply to that, or at least not as far as they could hear.

Instead both Clint and Steve looked up, only for them to see Iron Man, holding a missile above his head, shoot by overhead using the repuslors in his boots to fly himself upwards towards the portal. The red and gold form soon disappearing from sight for a moment as a skyscraper near to Stark Towers collapsed, smashing into another one as it did so, bringing that skyscraper down too as thousands of tonnes of rubble and wreckage fell to the ground.

Moments later though Iron Man appeared once more, but only for a few moments, before he shot up and through the portal.

A few moments later all the Chitauri around them collapsed to the ground.

"The hell?" Hawkeye muttered, looking around as suddenly, the thousands of aliens attacking their positon collapsed to the ground, like puppets that had had their strings cut.

The battle was over.

Locking onto that thought, Steve quickly turned his attention back to the portal, only to bite his lip nervously when he noticed that Tony had not yet re-emerged.

 **( - )**

 **(At the Portal)**

"Come on, Stark," Natasha muttered, looking up at the portal, even as she held the Sceptre in both hands, the tip currently poking through the shield, and hovering inches away from the glowing, and pulsing Tesseract.

From behind her Selvig nervous wrung his hands, even as he kept looking from the portal, and then back to the machine.

 **( - )**

 **(With Captain America and Hawkeye)**

"Close it," Steve said into the communicator, his blue eyes hardening as the seconds passed by and Stark still didn't emerge from the portal.

"Wait!" Hawkeye shouted from beside Steve, pointing up at the portal as he did so.

 **( - )**

 **(With Thor)**

Coughing up dust, a battered Thor dragged himself out of a massive mound of rubble, metal and glass, his arm broken and at an odd angle, and his left eye little more than a blood socket.

Pain wracked every inch of his body as he dragged himself out of the fallen remains of the two skyscrapers, his single remaining eye flicking around as he looked for his quarry, only for him to see nothing but dust, broken glass, shattered tarmac and rubble.

Groaning as he realised that the creature that murdered his brother had escaped, Thor leant back against the rubble and looked up, blood trailing down one side of his face, both from his bloody eye socket and from a large gash on his face.

His single remaining eye widened moments later though, as, when he looked up, he saw a lone, red and gold armoured figure drop down from the portal, and hurtle limply down to Earth.

"Stark?" Thor croaked uncertainly, confusion marring his pained and angered thoughts.

 **( - )**

 **(With Captain America and Hawkeye)**

"Son of a gun," Steve said, a smile spreading across his face as he saw Iron Man plummeting down from the portal.

"He's not slowing down," Hawkeye observed, his sharp eyes picking up on that fact quickly.

Before Steve could say anything though, the Hulk appeared, leaping up off the ground after having barrelled towards the falling man, the green beast managing to grab Stark just before he hit the ground. The Hulk's large hand having grabbed onto a nearby building to slow his fall, after which he leapt off of said building and landed on his back on a car, squashing it flat as he did so.

"Yes!" Hawkeye shouted, fist pumping the air, even as the Hulk threw Iron Man off of him and onto the ground.

"Close it," Steve said, a smile still on his face, even as Black Widow complied and closed the portal.

The portal overhead slowly closing in on itself, before vanishing from sight, leaving no trace of it having ever existed.

"We won," Captain America sighed with relief, even as the remaining fighters around him started shouting and cheering. "It's over!"

As if to mock what Captain America had just said though, the aliens, those that had previously been incapacitated, started to twitch, before slowly they began to come to their senses and push themselves up.

"Well maybe not yet…" Hawkeye sighed, raising his gun as he did so, even as the cheering quickly petered out.

 **( - )**

 **(With Kaneki)**

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, a groan left Kaneki mouth as he dragged himself through three inch deep, filthy water. The blackened carapace which had once covered his form breaking apart and disintegrating, even as he clawed his way over rubble and through murky brown water.

Overhead a few faint beams of light made it into the sewer system, lighting Kaneki's way as the last of his Kahuja form disappeared, revealing his bloodied, injured body. One of his legs having been completely mangled, whilst his ribs had noticeably been caved in completely, blood spattering out of his mouth with his every breath.

Not that this was much of an issue, as almost immediately his wounds rapidly started to heal, even as he continued to crawl through the sewer, the air around him misting and the water below him freezing over as, after a few moments, he uneasily scrambled to his feet.

His placid grey eyes darting this way and that for a moment, before he uneasily limped deeper into New York's sewer system, ignoring the muffled noise and shouting he could hear going on, on the surface, overhead.

 **( - )**

 **AN: And so the battle of Manhattan comes to an end! Sort of. Honestly though I always thought the way all the aliens die in Avengers when the nuclear missile goes off in space, stupid. That was some Phantom Menace level bullshit convenience. Which is why I said fuck no, and changed it. Not that I am going to draw it out next chapter, though it will have an impact on the aftermath, which again will be much worse than in canon, obviously. That said, no, I don't think the Chitauri are a hive mind, as that's just a bit stupid in my personal opinion. And no my decision to keep them alive for a moment is not important, nor will it cause unnecessary angst... I've no idea why people think it would.**

 **Other than that, yeah I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, obviously the things that happened in my version of events will drastically change the future events in the MCU.**

 **Though honestly I will admit I was toying with a different ending. For a while I considered having Iron Man injured, which meant he wouldn't be able to intercept the missile. Which in turn would mean that the missile would hit New York city, and kill all the OG Avengers, except Hulk, who wouldn't have been there, as well as millions of people. Which honestly would be some Watchmen Level shit!**

 **But then I wasn't sure that even Kaneki could survive a nuclear blast. Though it would have been interesting to see just what could have happened had the original Avengers all been wiped out in the first film. I mean for one none of their films would happen, obviously, nor would the second Avengers film and the fallout from that, as it was caused by Stark. Wouldn't stop the whole Hydra plot thing though, nor would it stop Thanos form still seeking the Infinity Stones. And there is the whole Malekith thing too, he wouldn't be stopped, and more. Honestly it would be interesting, but incredibly complicated to work it all out.**

 **But anyway, in the end I decided murdering off the main cast was maybe going a bit too far, even for someone who enjoy character death like me. That said I do have big plans in mind as I am planning to add some X-men stuff to the MCU, as well as some Spiderman stuff. Especially since Kaneki is just wandering around in New York's sewers at the moment. I mean just who knows what he might come across, or run into down there…?**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and leave a review!**

 **See you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: So it has been quite a long time for this story, since I updated it. Well, what can I say I took a break from writing due to lack of time, and then came back to it in the new year. Though admittedly I still don't have a huge amount of time.**

 **That said I decided to update this one now, as spending two hours beasting this out was many times easier than updating my Last King Story, which I am supposed to be doing. Still, nothing to complain about, though I'll admit I probably need to get up to date with the Marvel verse before I get to into this story. Unfortunately the last MCU film I watched was Avengers 2, so I think I am probably pretty behind.**

 **That said I am fortunately not just covering MCU things but the greater Marvel universe as some of the more observant my notice from this chapter and previous ones. Either way enough talking, here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Marvel etc.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Overhead a few faint beams of light made it into the sewer system, lighting Kaneki's way as the last of his Kahuja form disappeared, revealing his bloodied, injured body. One of his legs having been completely mangled, whilst his ribs had noticeably been caved in completely, blood spattering out of his mouth with his every breath._

 _Not that this was much of an issue, as almost immediately his wounds rapidly started to heal, even as he continued to crawl through the sewer, the air around him misting and the water below him freezing over as, after a few moments, he uneasily scrambled to his feet._

 _His placid grey eyes darting this way and that for a moment, before he uneasily limped deeper into New York's sewer system, ignoring the muffled noise and shouting he could hear going on, on the surface, overhead._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 10**

 **( - )**

 **(Within the sewers. beneath New York City)**

Staggering tiredly through a dark, dingy New York sewer, his feet splashing in filthy, stinking knee higher water, Kaneki had to fight back his exhaustion.

He wasn't hungry thankfully, the gnawing hunger than had assailed and consumed him over the last few days, had disappeared.

He was still a bit peckish, yes. He'd had to exert a huge amount of energy and effort over the last couple of days, ever since Coulson, at the behest of Fury, had dragged him into this weird, alien mess. Which is why, if there were some meat going he wouldn't say no.

That said the all-consuming need to eat was gone though, or at least for the moment. Thankfully it was no longer gnawing at his stomach anymore, or twisting his thoughts.

Replacing that hunger though, was instead tiredness.

The battle far above on the surface had taken a lot out of him, and despite his wounds having all healed up - with the only remaining sign of them being his ripped up and bloodied clothes, he was still recovering.

Stumbling slightly in the fetid water, Kaneki had to thrust a black nailed hand out to catch himself on the wall.

Spitting out a mouthful of bloody bile, Kaneki took a few moments to gather himself. Absentmindedly listening to the sounds of battle far off in the distance, before he then pushed himself on.

He couldn't wait around, nor did he want to linger. Just in case his erstwhile allies, the Avengers and SHIELD caught up with him.

Admittedly the chances of it happening were unlikely, especially considering he had ripped out that implanted chip in his skull, but still it was possible.

He might have been delirious at the time, but he could still very much remember everything he had done on the surface.

He had killed and eaten Thor's brother, Loki. The mastermind of the attack, and the person that SHIELD, and Thor, both wanted brought in alive.

A pang of regret flowed through him at that thought, and at his memories of Thor's rage after the blonde alien had discovered his brother's bloody, mutilated corpse.

It hadn't been a pretty sight.

Sure he hadn't been at all close to Thor, or very fond of him. The same could be said for the rest of the Avengers actually. But still, he had killed his brother, eaten him, and then fought and maimed the God of Thunder too.

He very much doubted that Thor, or the rest of the Avengers, would be pleased about that. As for SHIELD, well Kaneki didn't trust Fury for a moment. The one eyed man had made it quite clear what he would do if Kaneki stepped out of line.

Kaneki grit his teeth at that thought. The bastard had stuck a chip in his head, no doubt to track his actions, or maybe even as a way to control him. For all Kaneki knew the chip was rigged to explode at a push of a button.

Honestly, he wasn't sure. But what his muddled mind did recognise though, was that Fury was not his friend, and that his minions; SHIELD and the Avengers, were therefore not his friends either.

This effectively mean that he was fugitive. He couldn't go back to his old life. His job, his apartment, they were both lost causes. After this mess with the invasion was over, Fury would have agents monitoring them just in case he returned.

His hands clenched into fists at that thought. Dark red, almost black blood, leaking out of self-inflicted wounds and dripping down through is porcelain white fingers and into the murky water below him.

He was a pariah again, a marked man. Just like he had been in his old world, or reality, or whatever it was.

Shaking his head at that, Kaneki pushed on. His feet eating up the distance as he continued to trudge through the sewer water. His breath becoming more regular, and his limbs stronger as the tiredness left his body.

He would still need to sleep and rest, but he was feeling better than he had been before.

Thinking on his actions as he continued to trudge wearily, haphazardly about, his returning stamina bringing with it more mental clarity and acuity as he did so, Kaneki slowly came to realise that a greater part of himself was not actually regretting what he had done. No, instead it seemed to be exulting in how he had killed and eaten Loki, and in the newfound strength that had come with his consumption of the 'would be gods' flesh.

An odd reaction, in fact one that was alien to him.

Self-hatred and regret, those were the feelings that he was generally familiar with. But pleasure, and exhilaration, those were things more in line with what a real Ghoul, and a bad one at that, would feel.

What did that mean for him?

What had happened to him?

Kaneki paused at that, and looked down at his bloodstained hands.

Something within him had changed, or mutated, or evolved.

Honestly he wasn't sure.

Either way it felt like what had happened after he had partaken of the Hulk's flesh, only slightly different, and far more noticeably, and intense.

He felt stronger than he had before, and far more powerful and more dangerous too.

Those were just the physical changes though, the internal ones, both spiritually and mentally, they seemed to be even greater.

Letting out a breath of air, Kaneki could see his breath misting in front of him. This being in spite of the humid, disgusting atmosphere of the sewer. In fact, looking closely he could see ice crystals forming in the air, and the water slicked walls and flooded floor beneath him had started to freeze over from that single breath.

Bringing one of his hands up to his face, Kaneki was startled to find that his hand was icy cold. In fact his entire body seemed to be running at a colder temperature than before.

On top of which, as he breathed out and focused on the feeling of deep-seated coldness within him, the area around him seemed to more rapidly freeze over.

The intensity and speed with which it did so, increasing the more Kaneki focused. Until, after a few moments, he found himself standing in a completely frozen sewer tunnels, frosting coating the previously slimy walls, with the thigh higher water below him having completely frozen and turned into ice.

Frowning at this, Kaneki placed to hands gently onto the surface of the ice.

Surprising himself as he did so, at how little the cold bothered him.

After which, with barely any exertion at all he ripped himself free of the ice and clambered atop it, his grimy, white hair now nearly touching the roof of the tunnel as he looked at the frozen, wasteland around him.

Somehow, it seemed like he had, perhaps permanently, managed to gain the ability to control and manipulate ice after eating Loki.

That said though, exactly how permanent this was, and what his limits were, and how fine his control was at the moment, was another thing.

Mentally too he realised, as he instinctively started to walk across the frozen water, his mind was clearer, perhaps clearer than it had been even before he had ripped into and consumed the Hulk's flesh and become filled with anger and aggression.

He had a mental clarity he had never felt before, something he hadn't realised whilst he had been in his previously exhausted and rundown state.

He also felt like some of his emotions, things like guilt and anxiety, emotions that had plagued him since even before he had become a One Eyed Ghoul, were now deadened, numb.

It was almost like a switch within him, one connected to his humanity, had been switched off.

He felt comfortable in his own skin, perhaps for the first time in his entire life.

Continuing on through the tunnel, his mind continued to whirl, disconnected and muddled thoughts swirling around and coming together as he tried to make sense of what was happening to him.

He could still feel a pang of regret over what he done to Loki, but it was not guilt, nor was his regret over Loki's death, or its effects on Thor. Instead his regret was focused on how his actions had impacted upon himself.

Ice filled his veins at that unusually selfish thought.

That kind of thinking was not like him.

Was that really the only reason he felt regret, because he was unhappy over the fact that Nick Fury and SHIELD would find out what had happened, and would start hunting him.

Again his mind drifted to Fury and his erstwhile allies, the Avengers.

Already he had gotten a clear idea of just who Nick Fury was as a person, and extents to which he would go.

The man was a fanatic, and he had made it clear that he would imprison or eliminate Kaneki, or any other powered individual on his index for that matter, if he, or they, preyed on innocents or became a threat, and Kaneki very much believed that Nick Fury currently considered him a threat. Or at elast he would once he discovered what had happened.

The rest of the Avengers too; Stark, Rogers, Romanov, Barton, Thor, they all probably saw him as a threat too, or at least they would when the dust settled and they too found out what he had done.

He had killed Loki, maimed Thor and killed who knows how many people in that fight against Thor when he had caused a skyscraper to collapse.

Which was annoying.

He wasn't too worried about Barton, Romanov or Rogers, they were not much of a threat to him as they were at moment. Their skills in hand to hand combat and gimmicky gadgets and equipment could only take them so far.

Against a Ghoul, especially one as powered up as Kaneki believed himself to be, they were not much of a threat.

Stark and Thor though, they were more of a worry, what with Stark having that suit and all those bizarre and deadly weapons, and Thor, well, being Thor the God of Thunder. Both of them could possible present a threat. Thor more so than Stark, especially since the Asgardian was likely nursing a grudge.

Yes, he wasn't too keen on those two coming after him.

The same was true of Nick Fury and SHIELD too actually the more he thought about it. After all who knew what weapons, living or otherwise, the spy master had lying around, on top of which Barton and Romanov were his agents.

If Fury armed them up with some high grade tech, or some magic space metal, or something of that ilk, and then sent them after him together with even more reinforcements… He might have to re-evaluate his opinion on Barton, Romanov and Rogers.

Shaking his head at that, Kaneki pushed on through the sewer.

He was thinking himself in circles, he had already considered this, and thus all he was doing now was worrying over what might not even come to pass, not if he could get away now and hide his trail.

No, he needed to keep his head in the here and now.

With that thought in mind, he continued heading in the opposite direction of the battle.

Until he knew how the others would react, he was going to be avoiding them. He needed to get out of the city and then lay low.

Nodding to himself at that, he then continued on down the tunnel. The water continuing to freeze over as he passed, allowing him to walk upon it as opposed to through it.

Until, after a couple of minutes of continuous walking, Kaneki soon came to a stop. His head tilting and his nose twitching.

He could hear footsteps and lowered voices. He could also smell unwashed bodies, his enhanced sense of smell, courtesy of his physiology, allowing him to distinguish the many foul smells in the sewer.

Narrowing, his eyes, one of which now had a permanently black sclera and crimson iris, with noticeable flecks of green and blue in it, he clambered off the iced over water and onto a nearby ledge. His lending bending slightly as he prepared to lunge forward. His arm and leg muscles bulging, and his fingers gouging into the concrete beneath him as he came to a stop and set himself into a positon ready to pounce should he need to.

They were still coming, their voices hushed but still audible to him.

He could hear bits and pieces of what they were saying. They had initially been drawn here by one of them sensing a powerful 'something' in the vicinity.

Another one of them, a woman this time seemed to think the 'something' was a power mutant. He had heard of them before, even if he had never met one. Some called them evolved humans, others; cursed, heretical monsters.

The man who was leading them, the one who sensed the 'something', which Kaneki presumed was himself, seemed to think otherwise though.

An abomination, that is what the man, Calaban, seemed to think he was.

The man didn't know how right he was.

Rolling his neck and shoulders, his hands clenching into fists, Kaneki continued to stare off into the gloom, his lips curling upwards into a savage smile as again, instead of worrying, he felt a sudden feeling of cold pleasure running through him, easing his anxiety and washing away any tension.

He wasn't alone in here, this Calaban and his group seemed to be looking for him.

He wasn't sure why, but what he did know was that if they meant trouble, then it would be the last thing they ever did.

"Come out, whoever you are!" Kaneki called, his voice soft, and his resolve firm. He may still be slightly tired and in desperate need of sleep and rest, but he could still put up fight if he had to.

Mist began to roll off of his body at that thought, causing the air around him to become even colder, even as his steely muscled tensed, his current body positioning reminiscent of a powerful jungle cat, waiting and ready to attack.

He was ready for anything. If they attacked him, then he would respond in kind. He was not in the mood to take any shit right now!

In response to his words, several shadows disentangled themselves from a nearby offshoot tunnel, the darkness of the sewer enshrouding them in shadows, and the stench almost, but not quite, covering their scent as they began to approach.

"Easy there stranger, don't do anything you may regret!" A strong, female voice called out, making Kaneki tense up, even as the group of three emerged from the gloom, his heterochromatic eyes widening slightly at the sight of them.

 **( - )**

 **(Several days later, on the Helicarrier)**

Taking a long drag from a cigar, Nick Fury exhaled a large plume of smoke as he looked out of the large windows on the Helicarrier's bridge. His single visible eye narrowing as he starred menacingly down at the still smoking and ruined island of Manhattan below.

The giant airship currently hovering only several hundred metres above the city, its giant turbines blowing away the plumes of black smoke that still rose from certain areas in the city.

With Quinjets and other light aircraft, all engaged in the relief effort or in exterminating the last of the alien threat, continuously took off from Helicarrier on missions.

Taking another drag of the cigar, Nick fury spat out a globule of spittle onto the floor of the bridge as he continued to observe the city below, the bridge around him completely silent as the crew kept their heads down and continued to work diligently. Every one of them working around the clock to organise and mobilize the response to the alien attack.

It had been a long time since Nick Fury had smoked, but needs must.

Never before in his life, had he felt as stressed, angry, and worn out as he did right now.

The invasion of New York had turned into a real shit show.

After Stark had sent that nuke through the portal in space, and Romanov had closed it, he had been hoping the invasion would be over. That that would be it, and they would just have the task of sorting out the aftermath.

Unfortunately though, it wasn't.

The Chitauri, according to his analysts, were a part of a Hive Mind.

They were similar to a giant ant colony. Each of the bug like aliens were foot soldiers, psychically controlled by a greater, higher minded being, a 'Chitauri Queen' to keep to the analogy. Or at least that was the hypothesis the SHIELD analysts had come up with over the last few days after study the alien's movements, actions, and corpses.

Which, if it was indeed true, meant that closing the portal and cutting off or destroying the alien's 'mothership', and thus the 'Chitauri Queen', could have had one of two responses. Either the Chitauri could have dropped to the ground dead, or at least braindead, like a puppet which had just had its strings cut, the moment they were disconnected. Or they could have all gone completely out of control and run riot the moment they were disconnected.

Unfortunately it was the latter option that happened.

The moment the portal had closed, the Chitauri had started rampaging.

No longer were they acting in a controlled, cohesive, tactical manner. Instead they had spread out unleashing death and destruction on anything and everything they came across. No doubt fulfilling the last overwhelming and overriding order they had received from their master, which in the simplest of terms must've have been to kill and annihilate anything that got in their way.

For that reason, the moment the Avengers had closed the portal, things had gone from terrible to catastrophic.

The thousands of aliens in the city, each of which were wielding more advanced technology than the average human solider had access to, had all gone insane. All of them spreading out through the city killing and destroying anything that got in their way with wanton abandon.

Which of course included the giant worm like, leviathan monsters which had bulled their way out of the city boundaries and into the area surrounding Manhattan, the leviathan's still unloading bloodthirsty alien warriors as they went, tearing through skyscrapers like a hot knife through butter, most projectiles and missiles sent at them just bouncing off their hard carapace harmlessly.

That had been three days ago, and even now they were still trying to track down and contain the few remaining, surviving aliens.

Currently the death count was through the roof, both in terms of civilian deaths, and service people's deaths. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands were dead, many of them at the hands of the aliens, though there were probably just as many who had been killed by collapsing skyscrapers, crashing jets and all of the collateral damage that had followed.

And that death count was still rising.

Perhaps to make matters worse on the ground, new alien diseases had also begun to spread through the populace.

Whether these were diseases and viruses that the Chitauri themselves had already been carrying when they arrived, or whether they were ones that had developed from the mounds of dead alien's bodies that currently littered New York, he didn't know.

What he did know though, was that there were already nearly twelve thousand identified cases across the state, and those were just the ones they had found in the three days that had passed since the invasion.

Most likely there were probably tens of thousands of other carriers and infected people out there, both within the state and in the other states. Already some of them were no doubt already on planes to other countries, or already there spreading their infections to others.

Which considering there was a very high mortality rate, was especially bad. Already doctors who were working on the ground in quickly thrown up hospitals, trying to treat and contain the virus, had reported that thirty to forty percent of those infected had thus far died, and those were just initially estimates.

To help with the containment the entire US army, air force and navy had been mobilised and were now either helping with the relief effort or quarantining cities, airports and anyone and everyone who was found to be infected, or thought to have been in contact with someone who was infected.

It was chaos.

The response by the disaster agencies and governmental bodies had been poor to say the least.

As for the international response to the alien invasion, well that had been mixed to say the least.

Many countries had started trying to evacuate their citizens as soon as they could, incidentally breaking quarantine, whilst others had closed their borders and mobilised their militaries, just in case this was not the end of the alien threat.

Thankfully though many others, including the US's closest allies, had sent aid workers and supplies to the US to help, and reinforcements too, adding to the rest of the US forces that had been mobilised from across the globe all of whom were being brought home.

That said many of the others governments around the world, including allies, had started asking questions about the invasion and what led to it, as well as the US governments, and SHIELDs response to the threat. Questions that were very difficult to answer.

On top of which, if all of that wasn't enough there were other issues to deal with aside from the ongoing epidemic, and the job of hunting down the last aliens.

For one SHIELD, with help from Stark and his company, had to deal with criminals, other government agencies both from inside and outside of the US, and even aid workers, all of whom had started swooping in and trying to collect up as much alien tech as possible from the defeated army.

Which was something that SHIELD, with the help of the America armed services, were struggling to stop, depleted, battered and distracted as their forces were.

Raising his hand to his face, Fury gripped the bridge of his nose, and tried to fight off a headache. They hadn't even put down the last of the aliens, and things were already falling apart; socially, economically and politically.

Not only was the world economy in crisis, with much of New York and Wall Street having been decimated. But the US's quarantine measures had disrupted both imports and exports too. An issue that had been made worse by other countries adopting the same tactics, and also stockpiling their own resources as they waited to see what would happened next.

More than that however the American government, and SHIELD, were also facing a lot of flak for their 'poor' response to the alien invasion, and for attempting to send a nuclear missile at one of their own cities.

Suffice to say when word of that had gotten out that SHIELD had attempted to wipe out a city, which it almost certainly had considering their were news crews on the scene when Stark had caught up to, and redirected the nuclear missile out of the city and into portal, shit had truly hit the fan.

Apparently it didn't matter that he tried to stop it, or that the nuclear missile ended up being used against their enemies, the mere fact that SHIELD had attempted to send a high yield nuke into the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world had caused worldwide condemnation.

And honestly, Fury wouldn't be surprised if this was the end of SHIELD as it was now.

Three days, it had been three days since Loki had escaped and opened that portal, and he had not slept a wink.

Instead he had been in meetings with SHIELD's board, the UN Security Council, and overseeing SHIELD's forces as they hovered above the city and did all they could to contain the situation. With him often times having to liaise with military generals, like that arse General Talbot, to secure the city and keep a lid on the on-going pandemic.

Letting out a sigh, Fury took another drag of his cigar, before he turned to his approaching assistant, Agent Hill, his single bloodshot eye fixing on her as she approached him and then curtly saluted.

"Sir, the Avengers have just returned to the Helicarrier." Hill rattled off promptly. "The city has been swept three times, and is now secure. The last of the aliens have been killed, and soldiers on the ground are already collecting and destroying the corpses. Both the civilian and alien."

Fury cocked an eyebrow at that.

"An order form the top brass. There are too many bodies to reasonable bury, and with the threat of the pandemic the sooner they are destroyed the better. The same method is being used to dispose of the bodies of those who died to the contagion." Hill reported, her cold expression not changing for a moment.

Fury grunted at that. It was grim, but made sense. "So the last of the aliens are dead. What of the alien tech?"

"Stark Industries is leading the effort to collect and store the tech in designated governmental compounds. Regular marines are being assigned guard duty, and are protecting the tech from scavengers." Hill replied, before she pulled out a tablet and began scanning the contents, listing off a whole raft of figures on supplies, military units and resources, and the ongoing situation with the pandemic.

Taking all this in, Fury nodded. "The situation is in hand, or at least from the primary impacts of the invasion. The secondary impacts though, I feel like we're just seeing the beginning of the trouble."

"Do you mean the contagion, sir? Or the political situation?" Hill asked.

"Both, and more." Fury grunted, looking out of the window again. "What is the condition of the Avengers?"

"Roger and Thor are all tired, but still going. Barton, Stark, Romanov and Banner are wiped out, they're going to need more time to recuperate." Hill replied.

Fury nodded at that. The remaining Avengers had been working around the clock to put the alien threat down. With Stark occasionally taking breaks to work, with his own company, other pharmaceutical companies, government organisations and SHIELD, to synthesis a vaccine, or a cure to the alien contagion.

"Any signs of infection?" Fury pressed on. All of them had been in the field, and at ground zero.

"Not yet, but they're being monitored." Hill said.

"What of the missing Avenger. Any sign of Kaneki yet; living or dead?" Fury asked after a moment, turning to look at Hill now.

"Still missing in action, and presumed dead." Hill replied, her face emotionless. "He's not been seen or heard of since partway through the battle on the first day when he went to face Loki. He's probably among the dead."

"Maybe," Fury bit out. "What of the tracker in him?"

"No response." Hill replied promptly, before she paused. "Technicians who collected up Loki's body, found the remains of the adamantine chip, it was destroyed. They also found traces of his blood, its mutagenic properties make it quite unique."

"I see." Fury replied, his brow furrowing. For something to destroy an all but indestructible metal, that was worrying. That said it might not have been the metal that was destroyed, but the solder that kept it together, he would have to wait for a more detailed report.

"It is believed he is another victim of the alien that killed Loki and wounded Thor." Hill pressed, looking up from her tablet now and at Fury.

"Maybe," Fury muttered. "Has there been any sign of the monster?"

"No sign at all, sir. It seems to have disappeared." Hill got out, licking her lips nervously now. "There's been no attacks, or any sign of it still being alive. Experts think it might not have been an alien at all. But instead something else, something from this earth."

"A mutant then?" Fury asked bluntly. He had only heard a description of the beast from Thor, but if such a thing could strike fear into the Asgardians heart, then it was something to worry about.

"Maybe," Hill replied.

"Keep it quiet for now. We've enough trouble, without bringing mutants, or whatever the fuck that monster was into the light." Fury decided, gritting his teeth at the thought of not trying to track down and destroy whatever it was that monster was, as he instead took a more pragmatic approach. "We'll deal with that monster as and when we can. For now we must continue the relief effort."

"Yes sir!" Hill saluted at once.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So yes things in this are a lot messier than they were in canon. How will that impact the story going forward, well you'll just have to wait and see as things happen and events continue to churn on, each one impacting on what is to come until we have a completely up ended mess of the canon world. Should be fun, though hopefully it doesn't get too chaotic.**

 **I'll admit I was hoping to just nuke the city and most of the Avengers out of the story last chapter. But decided that that didn't make sense, after all how would Kaneki survive too. That and the characters in the Avengers are relatively important to the plot, even as I do pulled in other things from the wider MCU and Marvel verse, such as what is going off in the sewers now. Again some might have worked out what's happening.**

 **Yes, other than that, I hope you weren't too disappointed. I was going to put in an extended scene with the OG Avengers, but decided to leave that till next time. Along with the cliffhanger for Kaneki. I felt it would have disrupted the flow of this chapter if I put it in.**

 **Either way, there we go. Hope you all enjoyed it and what not and leave a review! Thanks for reading and please check out my other things.**

 **Greed720.**


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